First Steps Toward Increasing Student Engagement During Lecture

Have you tried to repurpose materials you've gotten from another lecturer or publisher that you thought could express a concept exceptionally well, only to find when you used the same materials, they did not have the dramatic effect on your students you desired? It would be easy to conclude that student apathy is to blame. But, if students listening to your lecture take on the same bored appearance and passive disposition often observed when you are showing a video, consider whether your instructional approach is designed to intellectually engage students. An information-download lecture has often been described as…the process by which the teacher's notes get transferred into students' notebooks without passing through the brains of either. That brilliant set of lecture materials that you thought would be perfect might need to be adjusted to meet the learning styles of your students to actively engage them in developing conceptual understanding.