Lecture Organization

Common forms of lecture organization

• Hierarchic Forms
• The classification Hierarchy: 
• Different points of information are grouped together with a unifying feature as a heading 
• This form is the easiest for a new lecturer to give. They require attention to one thing at a time and not much dynamic ability.
• the main disadvantage is it is stops flexible thinking in students. Thus it has to be coupled with discussions and buzz groups.
• second disadvantage is boredom.
• conclusion: This form is good for introducing complex and difficult subject matters, and for presentation of facts. It is not suitable for simulating thought and interest. It should be used with younger and less able students.
•   The Problem-Centered Lecture:
• The lecturer gives a problem at the beginning and then presents information, arguments, etc as possible solutions. Everything is focused on the initial problem.
• For this type, it is important to get the problem clear at the beginning. Thus it is appropriate to refer back to the problem often so that students can relate the information with the problem.
• It is of outmost importance for the lecturer to explain why each hypothesis is a possible solution because it is shown that students do not make eve the most important and simple inferences in lecture situations. 
• it is the most difficult form to lecture but if done well, it is very rewarding for both lecturer and students.
• Chaining
• Variations and more Complex Forms
• comparison 
• The thesis
• Logical Dichotomy
• Network

Making the Organization Clear

•  Introductions: State the Organization at the Beginning
• For Each New Point: Itemize
• For Each New Point: Use a Visual Buildup
• For Conclusions, Take Stock and Summarize

Motivating Students

Student motivation is more important than intelligence. Motivated students work longer than more intensively. Good teaching uses and fosters motivation; bad teaching kills it.

How Can We Motivate Students?

• Enthusiasm from the lecturer
• Cultivating Existing Motives

 Common Motives of Students:

• "Deep" and "surface" Approaches
• surface approach: students' intentions are to store information; to memorize facts and principles without much thought. They think of the teacher's role as presenting information and the students' role as reproducing it in examinations to demonstrate that they know it. 
• Deep approach: emphasize thought rather than memory. They integrate new ideas to those already possessed. They exercise imagination, distinguish principles from examples and look for the overall structure of ideas.
• The Desire for Relevance
• Curiosity
• Achievement and Fear
• Fear of Failure: Although fear of examinations can help urge the student to study more, fear, is not normally conducive to high student motivation. Study has shown that average students learned more from lectures when they knew they would be tested on it; but knowing this did not affect the performance of good and poor students. 
• Desire for Personal Achievement
• Need for Social Interaction : working in groups helps motivation. 
• Activity and Esteem: motivate students by letting them first taste the fruit of success and giving positive feedback and praise.

Factors affecting students' attention

Arousal: gneral level of activity
motivation: energy directed toward a specific kind of activity or goal.

The effects of Arousal

Factors affecting student arousal

• Variations in stimulation in the learning situation
• Auditory Stimulation
• Visual Stimulation
• Posture
• Novel Stimulation
• Intensity of Stimulation
• The students' arousal regimes during periods of teaching
• Attention Decrement: The decrement in the note taking will reduce knowledge in the long run.
• The effect of a short break
• The students' daily work and rest regimes 
• Students are generally more attentive early morning than late in the evening
• They are more attentive early in the week then late in the week.
• The students' physical environment and bodily condition