Students’ life circumstances and learning environments have changed drastically during the pandemic, which can make it difficult for them to stay focused and on task during live or recorded lectures. But don’t give up on remote lecturing! Lecture is an effective and efficient teaching method when used in combination with active learning activities, and is especially important in foundational courses.
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Lecture also ensures an expert in the field is immediately available to answer questions, and can provide necessary background knowledge to novice learners. However, research shows that students' attention decreases after 10-15 minutes of listening to a lecture, unless they can actively engage with the content (Thwin & Lwin, 2018). So a good first step toward better learning is to condense lectures to segments of less than 15 minutes. A good second step is to prepare activities that will help students engage with and practically apply the information, to come after each segment.
Active learning works best, but shortened lecture times do mean instructors won’t be able to cover as much content. One way to fill in the content gap and keep students engaged is to create guided lecture notes.
Guided lecture notes are instructor‐prepared handouts that provide all students with background information and spaces to write key facts, concepts, and/or sketch relationships during the lecture. Guided lecture notes require students to actively respond to the information in a lecture and can improve the accuracy and efficiency of students' note taking, and increase students' retention of course content. See the sample guided lecture notes below. (Left image from Konrad, Joseph & Itoi, 2011)
Guided lecture notes should be made available to students before class so they have time to print the document if they are filling it in by hand. Prompt students to get the notes out at the start of lecture, and to fill in the page as the lecture progresses. Make sure you build in extra time for them to complete this! Students can also open the notes on their laptops and type in answers, if they cannot print or are simply more comfortable writing with a keyboard. Some instructors like to review students’ completed notes. In that case, students who completed the notes by hand can take a picture with their phone using a free scanning app such as Camscanner. Once they have the image scanned and saved as a PDF, they can submit it to a Canvas assignment. Completely ungraded assignments are not recommended for this, but make sure each one is worth only a small amount, and that the points are granted for completion rather than for correctness. Alternatively, or in addition, once students have completed their notes, they can work in groups to compare and improve their notes by pooling their understanding, another well-documented practice to improve learning.
And, of course, if instructors only supply the information needed to complete the hand-out during lecture, this technique can also improve class attendance!
Suggestions for Using Guided Lecture Notes
Develop a set of notes that summarize the lecture; delete key words, phrases, and concepts and leave blank spaces for students to fill them back in.
Add questions that students can answer while listening to the lecture. Don’t forget to build pauses into the lecture, so they have time to do this.
Allow space for students to sketch concepts, workflows, relationships, etc. and prompt them during lecture to try this if they find concept maps helpful.
Post guided lecture notes on Canvas before the live lecture so students have time to download or print a copy.
At the start of class, remind students that guided lecture notes are an excellent study tool, so they understand the value and point of the exercise.
During the lecture remind students to keep filling in their notes, either on paper or on their computers. These moments are also a good opportunity to solicit questions.
Optional: Students scan work and submit to Canvas for the instructor to review. Students can scan their hand-written notes using a phone app such as CamScanner.
Optional: Students work in groups to compare and revise notes.
Providing students with guided lecture notes may seem counterintuitive. After all, we know good note-taking improves learning. But instructor-prepared notes will reduce students’ cognitive load and allow them to focus more deeply on the lecture and better understand the content. This approach can actually increase student engagement, improve learning and recall, and provide a robust study aid for future assessments.
If you would like to discuss how to best use this technique in your own class, please reach out to the LSATSLearningTeachingConsultants@umich.edu, or request a consultation here. We’re happy to help!
References:
Chen, P., Teo, T., & Zhou, M. (2016, June 4). Effects of guided notes on enhancing college students’ lecture note-taking quality and learning performance. Current Psychology, 01(36), 719-732.
Thwin, P., & Lwin. (2018). Simple interactive lecturing strategies for fostering students’ engagement and active participation. Med.Sci.Educ (28), 203-209.
Zakrajsek, T., & Harrington, C. (2017). Dynamic lecturing: Research-based strategies to enhance lecture effectiveness. Stylus.
Konrad, M., Joseph, L., & Itoi, M. (2011).Using guided lecture notes to enhance instruction for all students. Intervention in School and Clinic, 46(3), 131-140.
