Overview

Lectures provide several key benefits when structured well:

  • Provides a synthesis of up-to-date information from an expert in the field
  • Complex material can be translated for the specific audience at hand
  • Enthusiastic lecturers can stimulate student interest in the topic
  • Preparing lectures solidifies the instructor’s knowledge of a subject
Classroom discussion

Highlight Key Points

  • Transparency: Be clear about what the students will take away from your session. Present your objectives on paper or in your slides.
  • Repetition: Plan to spend most of your time on key learning points and relay them at the start and close of your session
  • Signposting: With changes in tone, posture, and phrases. For example, before a key point, state, “This is a crucial point…”.

Practice

  • Practice runs highlight what is not clear or material that is extraneous.
  • Shortly after teaching a session, spend time reflecting on what worked well and what you want to try differently next time.

“Some people talk in their sleep. Lecturers talk while other people sleep” - Albert Camus

Key Learning Points

  • Highlight your key learning points with repetition, examples and signposting.
  • Break lectures into 10-15 minute sections, punctuated with a summary.
  • Introduce active learning, media, or other strategies between sections to promote student engagement.
  • Practice, practice, practice.
UW logo with stars

Guiding Principles

You can develop an engaging lecture by structuring your time effectively, introducing key points early and often, and using some tried and true presentation tips.

Keep in Mind

  • Students retain 70% of what they hear in the first 10 minutes and only 25% of what they hear in the last 10 minutes.
  • In a typical 50-minute lecture, students are attentive only 40% of the time.
  • Use appealing visual aids and minimal text on slides to help students focus on what you are saying, not your slides.
  • Writing increases student retention of information, consider giving slides after lecture instead of before.

Use Lecture Time Effectively

  • Knowing that attention wanes after 10-15 minutes, structure your lecture in 10-15 minute chunks and introduce the most important information early.
  • After each section, summarize your key points.
  • Consider returning to your agenda during the session to reflect on the progress made.
  • Break up the lecture by introducing active learning to emphasize your key points.
RAE great lectures clock face

Emphasize What is Most Important

You are not a textbook. Synthesize the material into three to five key learning points appropriate for the audience at hand. Introduce these points at the beginning, return to them throughout the lecture, and summarize them at the end. Use several concrete examples to demonstrate your key points.

Dr. Coyle giving a lecture

Work on Your Delivery

An engaging lecture can promote learning and enthusiasm about the topic. Open with a captivating story; a personal or patient story can be effective. Stories can be a memorable way to emphasize key points. Use humor if it feels natural to you and show your enthusiasm for your topic. And practice, practice, practice. Practice with a friend or colleague to avoid relying too heavily on your prepared materials, to prevent you from reading directly from slides, and to get your timing down.

Use Visual Aids Effectively

Slideshow presentations are ubiquitous in medical education. Consider the following tips for developing appealing slides:

  • Rule of six: Do not use more than six words per line and no more than six lines per slide
  • Avoid using full sentences
  • Avoid distracting backgrounds and animations
  • Select easy-to-read fonts, with headings sized 36-44 points and text 24-32 points
  • Avoid difficult-to-read charts and tables

When deciding how verbose to make your slides, remember students will try to write down everything that is projected. If they have too much to copy, they are not listening to you. Display only your main points.

Engaging the Audience

In this video, Matt Brunner, MD, Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care, shows an example of engaging the audience early in a lecture-based teaching session. This educator effectively uses a personal story and humor to highlight the importance of his topic.

Agenda Setting

In this video, Clare O'Connor, MD, MPH, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, models setting the agenda for her session on dyspnea, by forecasting content and teaching methodologies for learners.

Wrap up

Lectures are effective teaching tools when structured properly, providing opportunities for engagement around a limited number of key points.

References

Dale, E. Audio-Visual Methods in Teaching. 3rd Ed. Page 108. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1969. 

Davis, B.G. Tools for Teaching. 2nd Ed. Jossey-Bass, 2009.

Jones-Wilson, T.M. "Teaching problem-solving skills without sacrificing course content: Marrying traditional lecture and active learning in an organic chemistry class," Journal of College Science Teaching. 2005. 35, 42-46.

Lang, J.M. On Course: A Week-by-Week Guide to your First Semester of College Teaching. Harvard University Press, 2008.

Lemov, D. Teach Like a Champion 2.0: 62 Techniques that put Students on the Path to College. Jossey-Bass, 2015.

Skeff, K.M., and Stratos, G.A. Methods for Teaching Medicine. American College of Physicians Press, 2010.