Alternatives to traditional lectures that can be enticing to students and lecturers
The U of O class schedule runs from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Within this time, the four course components are offered: — lectures, discussion groups, tutorials and laboratory sessions.
Theoretically speaking, this should provide a wide expanse of class options for students to pick from.
Practically speaking, students are often stuck with awkward class times that leave them little wiggle room for other commitments. Moreover, the fact that the university is offering less classes this academic year means students have less flexibility and control over their class schedules.
The rigidity of class schedules, often caused by the reduced class offerings, has made planning schedules more difficult. This problem is intensified by the fact that the U of O faculty is currently short-staffed.
The limited class availability and faculty understaffing means that there are more students in each course. This increases both the likelihood of students being left behind during the teaching process, and their likelihood of dropping the course.
Professors have more students to attend to during office hours and more papers to grade, but less time to spend with each student to address their concerns. Similarly, students sometimes have to wait for an entire academic year if they wish to retake a course, as opposed to waiting one semester. However, as a result of understaffing at the university, they are more likely to retake the course under the same professor.
While there are no immediate solutions to these problems (since they are a result of budget cutbacks), diverse learning options and plans to increase student engagement can be offered to ensure that a variety of students are more likely to not only remain engaged, but also pass courses on their first try.
There is no ideal class time or format that can work for every student: some students are early-risers, others are night owls. Some students focus better during shorter class hours, others prefer to learn for three hours straight. Some students love long breaks between their classes, others enjoy having all their classes at a certain time of the day.
Nevertheless, there are several ways to ensure that there is diversity within the current class offerings to keep students engaged. Courses do not have to be solely lecture-based. Professors can create classes that stimulate learning without focusing the burden of teaching solely on the instructor.
One of such methods is demonstrative teaching where visual aids, experiments or role-play is used to communicate the lecture material across. While it can be time-consuming for lecturers to prepare (depending on the course), it is great stimulation for visual and kinesthetic learners, giving them hand-on learning in the classroom.
Similar to this is inquiry-based learning, where students review and conduct their own research to draw conclusions on a topic introduced in class.
Alternatively, lecturers can explore playing a facilitating role in their classrooms. This caters to audio, visual and kinesthetic learners, allowing them to take ownership of their education by having them lead discussions on class topics and collaborate with their peers. Although this method requires the instructor to be very adaptable, (to guide appropriate discussions) it also builds student autonomy and sense of responsibility towards their education.
Other options for alternative teaching are using the delegator style (where students are assigned tasks or topics to research or present) or the flipped classroom (where students review the lecture material beforehand and use class time for discussion or class activities).
These methods can be new — or even daunting— to both lecturers and students. While it is great to explore new things, it does not have to be the first step taken to cater a wide array of learning types in classrooms.
Tools like Mentimeter and Kahoot! can help keep students engaged and interactive during lectures. Similar results can be achieved with videos and pictures embedded into the lecture plans. Lecturers can create conversation time or question sessions to enliven a class. Finally, the power that exploratory tools like case studies and field trips hold can never be understated — especially since they can be adapted to fit any field of study.
These methods all have their advantages and disadvantages. While their implementations don’t look the same way for every program, all methods can help lecturers adapt their classes to be more interactive.
Exploring new teaching methods and varying lecture styles will help improve the quality of classroom learning, as well as alleviate the burden of an already understaffed U of O faculty.
With a practicable solution in sight, maybe it’s time for lecturers at the U of O to expand the scope of their teaching style. Nevertheless, this step in improving the quality of education at the U of O is one that cannot be undertaken by staff alone — it requires the cooperation of both staff and students to be actualized.
