 |
 |
Lecture Design, In 10 Minute Segments |
Lecturing is a necessary evil, but when we train or teach, quite a bit of our program is often delivered in lecture format. And why not? It is indeed the most efficient way to parade program information in front of your audience. I know what you're all thinking. It is what each of us has come to know so well. After about 10 – 15 minutes of lecturing you start to lose your audience. They simply lose attention; they simply drift off.
In our last newsletter I expounded on some of the terrific information focusing on how we learn, found in John Medina's great new book entitled "brain rules" (He doesn't use caps, and I make enough mistakes, so I thought to mention it). Within this book Medina also provides us with a lecture design he incorporates to improve retention and hold attention within his own classes. We've known for a long time the link between attention and learning. Medina asks in his class, "Given a class of medium interest, not too boring, not too exciting, when do you start glancing at the clock, wondering when the class will be over?" After a short initial shocked pause, a voice in the back of the room blurts out, "Ten minutes, Dr. Medina". When asked why, this intrepid soul volunteers, "That's when I start to wonder when this torment will be over".
Most of us have experienced such torment as students and as well as teachers. In response, John Medina puts forth his ten minute segments lecture design. It's fairly simple and straight forward. Given that most of his classes lasted 50 minutes, and the ever present "ten minutes til torture" attention rule, Medina cleverly decided to divide his lectures into five (10) minute modules. Each module or segment would cover a core program concept, and as Medina explains these were "always large in scope, always general, always filled with gist, and always explainable in just one minute, leaving the remaining 9 minutes for related detail." In regard to the detail, Medina states that the key was to ensure the detail could be easily traced back to the key concept with minimal intellectual effort. And he, of course, committed to go to great lengths to explain how the detail related back to the core concept being discussed.
Medina explains he knew that he would only have 600 seconds to earn the right to be heard, and in the 601st second, he would have to do or say something remarkable to earn another ten minutes. He carefully structured each module with attention to hierarchy which our brains really like. He first presented the big picture, the key concepts (1 minute), moving then to the details (9 minutes), while continually relating each back to the key concept. Just by adhering to this natural hierarchical brain preference, Medina states retention will improve by 40 percent. Finally he states that it is imperative for the instructor to explain this lecture plan in the beginning of the class, and continually reference where they are in the plan throughout the hour.
So now you should be asking, what is he doing on second # 601 to buy himself another ten minutes? Naturally, he states, he baits the hook. Medina tells us you must use ECS or Emotionally Competent Stimuli, a.k.a., "the hook". A hook is a relevant story or anecdote designed to stimulate emotion such as fear, happiness, laughter, or incredulity. The hook can be used to summarize the last key concept or to introduce the next module, but most importantly, it "touches" your audience. I think most of us are aware of the impact of such stories that capture us emotionally, but do we go to the next step and plan them within each program? If not, in second # 601 of our lecture series, we may start to see those faces grimacing and glancing up to the wall clock.
Evoking emotion naturally grabs attention and thus results in better learning. Kevin Ochsner, a Harvard psychologist demonstrated this through research which exposed students to positive (smiling child), negative (angry adult face) and neutral images. Several days later, when tested, the students readily recalled the emotionally tainted images while the neutral images had all but faded from memory.
It appeared to me that John Medina wrote his book "brain rules" using these same principles. It is filled with colorful hooks which keep your interest and cause you to emotionally invest in the book's content. Medina sums up his thoughts on lecture design stating, "The brain does not pay attention to boring things, and I am as sick of boring presentations as you are." |
|
|
 |
|
