What do you do in your classes to help students navigate and retain ideas from your lectures either remote or in-person? Keep reading to see if you think the following suggestions could work in your courses. Although I’m not currently teaching a lecture-based course, these strategies seem like great ideas to engage students and promote learning whatever method you’re using for classroom instruction.

Dr. Christine Harrington gave a thought-provoking presentation at a recent First-Year Experience (FYE) national conference. She pointed out that research has shown that novice learners, in particular, benefit from lecture-style courses where they are learning content from an expert. However, she also stressed the benefits of using certain teaching strategies for maximizing this learning during lectures. (See Harrington’s 7 strategies for Maximizing Learning via Lecturing and supporting research in her Dynamic Lecturing PPT. Scroll down on her website.)

Here I’ll share three of these strategies which can help students both navigate and retain information from lectures without taking too much time away from the lecture itself. These may seem like simple steps, but Harrington makes a strong case that they have a beneficial impact when consistently put into practice.

1. Activate Prior Knowledge. Take just a few minutes at the beginning of a lecture to connect the topic to what your students already know.  This might include:
   1. Using a picture, graphic, or headline as a springboard for discussion
   2. A 1-minute paper reflecting on the previous lecture or reading assignment
   3. Reviewing notes from the previous class with a partner or small group
2. Capture Students’ Attention by emphasizing the three most important points from the lecture. Find a way to do this that is authentic for you. It could be:
   1. Using a gesture, voice intonation, or PPT slide as a signal
   2. Simply saying “This is important”
   3. Doing a 90-second activity focusing on the topic/theme/concept (research showed it didn’t really matter what the activity was—simply taking time to focus students’ attention led to better retention)
3. Brief Reflection Opportunities providing cognitive engagement. Studies show that simply adding three 2-minute pauses during a lecture led to better recall. They could look like this:
   1. A written summary of the concept just presented
   2. Reviewing and sharing notes with a partner
   3. Quick quizzes (Canvas, clickers or online/cell phone apps such as Kahoot or Socrative)
   4. Have students share a point, concept, or example that stood out to them
   5. Have students develop questions that the previous section of the lecture answered

Harrington stressed the importance of giving students context for what you ask them to do—why you’re asking them to do it—so they know what to expect and have buy-in.

Do these ideas seem feasible? Have these examples reminded you of things you’re already doing during your lecture classes that help your students learn? Share your insights with other faculty here by commenting below or writing a blog post for us to share!