Student-led Lectures
Do you ever wonder how to…
• Cover all of the topics in your syllabus in 15 weeks?
• Keep students focused during lectures when their average attention span maxes out at 20 minutes?
• Determine what students are learning from lectures in your class?
By having students research and present your lecture points, you can help them internalize more, stay engaged, and demonstrate their learning.
Here’s an example of how a student-led lecture could work in a History of Fashion class.
Preparation
Before class Decide what info or skills students need to “take away” from class that day. Example: Students will be able to identify the mechanics, signifiers, and functions of particular garments worn during the 15th century.
During class
- Pose questions to focus students on your lecture points (questions could be written on the board):
a.)
How does the garment fit/attach to the body? (What are the mechanics?)
b.) Who wears this garment? What are the signifiers? (men/women, married/unmarried, wealthy/poor, etc.)
c.) What’s the function of this garment?
- Divide students into groups.
- Give each group printouts of its designated lecture slide.
- Have groups answer the focus questions about their slide, using resources you provide (a text book, article, etc.) or resources students have brought in.
Your role: Make sure students are on track and help groups who may be struggling.
Lecture
- Each group presents its findings to the class. (Have every student present at least one piece of information to engage all students.)
- Groups that are not presenting, listen, ask questions, and write key points on a printout of the slide being presented.
Your role: Correct and clarify, as needed. Ask questions to check comprehension.
Tips
- After experimenting with this method for several weeks, Fashion instructor Maggie Whitaker says it works particularly well as an introduction to her lecture. The group work (often based on images students bring in for homework) warms students up for her shortened teacher-led lecture which she says has become “more of an open dialogue.”
- For the best results, group students with different skill-levels and language abilities. Groups should be large enough to bring different perspectives and small enough to encourage participation. (3-5 students)
- To save paper, label images and post them as “Downloads” on your course website. Students can take notes about the images during class, and then review them at home.
- If you don’t currently use slides, visuals, or handouts students could create them and/or just take notes in a notebook.
How else could you adapt this for the courses you teach onsite or online? We love hearing your ideas! facultydevelopment@academyart,edu
Resources
Tutorials on finding digital images and creating presentations using LUNA
The Change-Up in Lectures - Rationale & ideas from Indiana University RYT_Tip
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