Building on lectured soil
Posted on: October 11, 2012
Sometimes opportunities emerge where you least expect them. I will highlight one such opportunity that arose from yesterday’s management retreat.
I shared in my blog how I tried to create more interactive face-to-face lectures recently [1] [2] [3]. Folks who enjoy reading my raving and ranting know I dislike lectures as a practice.
Someone else in the group attended part of one lecture and liked what I did with the quiz at the end.
But the favorable response seemed to be more about the fact I had found one way to track attendance in situ. I wondered if this was more about putting warm bodies into a cold place and less about good teaching, i.e., connecting with learners or measuring outcomes.
I took the opportunity to provide some context, mention the use of three backchannels, and the feedback-quiz-attendance taking strategy.
The option that presented itself on the table was: Can you share with all staff how to do this? I replied that we could at CeL’s semestral staff sharing and professional development sessions.
But I am aware of two things. First, a few staff like me have moved beyond the need to just lecture. Second, this is opportunity to provide a bridge for some staff to crossover from talk mode to teach and learn mode.
I like to remind teachers that we must reach them (students) to teach them. I say this in the context of integrating technology meaningfully and powerfully. I can apply the same principle in my case of sharing strategies with teacher educators. I must go where they are, find something they can relate to, and build on that.
