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Successful Interactive Large
Group Teaching
Lindsey Henson, MD PhD
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education
University of Rochester
Large groups present unique challenges for teachers
who want the students to engage in active learning. There is a big difference
between "covering" the material and having the students learn it. If
students are actively engaged during a presentation, they will usually understand the
material better and remember it longer. The following techniques can be used to
involve students during large group sessions (lectures).
- Start the session with a question or problem and ask
for answers to the question or solutions to the problem. Write the students'
comments on the board. Use what you have written to guide the next part of the
session.
- Divide the room into quadrants, or smaller
subdivisions, and ask groups of students to work together to answer a question or solve a
problem. Have a spokesperson from each group present the answer.
- If you can, put name cards on the desks or tables in
the front of the students so you can call on them by name. This is even more useful
if it will be a class you teach more than once. If you learn the students' names and
they learn each other's names, they will be more likely to talk.
- Ask questions throughout the lectures so that they
become more "conversational". The best questions are open-ended,
counterintuitive, and don't have one right answer.
- Pause and ask students to write for a few minutes in
response to a question, then ask them for answers. By writing something down every
student has a chance to think about the response ahead of time and feel more comfortable
commenting during a discussion.
- Stop during a lecture after you have made a major point
and put up a multiple choice question (overhead projectors work well for this). Ask
the students to vote on the right or best answer. Then ask them to discuss the
answer with the person seated next to them and vote again.
- Use teaching cases and conduct the class as a case
discussion rather than as a lecture.
- When one of the students asks a question, rather than
answering it yourself, ask for answers from other members of the class. Always
repeat the question and/or paraphrase it; this ensures that everyone heard the question
and also gives them more time to think of an answer.
- When using slides, pictures, or other visuals, ask the
students what they see before you tell them what you see.
- Give students a "60-second paper". Hand
out a small piece of paper and ask them to write down the one "most important"
thing for them about what was discussed. This has to be a single question that can
be answered in a few words. Depending on the question, the statements can be
designed for the students' own reflection, can be shared with the group (not anonymous),
or by you and read out to the class (anonymous).
- Create an atmosphere that encourages students to
participate.
- Don't criticize their questions or comments in front of
the class; they are taking a big risk when they talk.
- Invite them to challenge what you say, invite
questions, and allow yourself to be interrupted by their challenges or questions.
- Encourage participation with your "body
language" -- walk around, sit on a desk or table rather than speaking from behind a
podium.
- Rearrange the room if possible. Nothing says
"passive" like a room arranged for a lecture with a "stage for the
sage" and rows of chairs. If you can't rearrange the room, walk to the back or
up and down the aisles.
Accepted as a non- peer review contribution
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