Large Group Teaching
Ed Foster

The 50-minute lecture is a problematic beast, an awkward child born of administrative convenience and academic habit. It’s a convenient way to transmit large amounts of information to large numbers of students, although not necessarily a more effective one (Bligh, 1998ⁱ). Moreover, the lecture is often a poor method to inspire students or help them engage with the substance of the subject. For more info on teaching large groups, download our Guide to teaching large groups (Microsoft Word)

Key texts

• SMITH, B., 1997. Lecturing to large groups: SEDA Special No 1. London: Staff and Educational Development Association.
  This text is a succinct journey through the lecture. It contains plenty of innovative ideas for increasing the degree of interaction and some reflective activities for the reader. As such it’s vintage Brenda Smith. Please note that it slightly pre-dates the widespread use of PowerPoint and this is reflected in the text.
• GIBBS, G., HABESHAW, S., and HABESHAW, T., 1992. 53 Interesting things to do in your lectures. Bristol: Arrowsmith.
  The book is now pretty dated, with no references to PowerPoint or IT, but much of the content is still extremely relevant. It’s a treasure chest of innovative ideas and well-worth flicking through.
• RACE, P., 2006. The Lecturer’s Toolkit: a Practical Guide to Learning, Teaching and Assessment. London: Routledge.
  This book by pedagogical heavyweight, Phil Race, contains an interesting chapter on the role of the lecture and strategies for improving it. It’s also contemporary enough to discuss the use of PowerPoint and other technologies.
• BLIGH, D., 1998. What’s the Use of Lectures. Exeter: Intellect.
  An often-revised text on lectures, a useful starting point.

Using PowerPoint: Key Text

Most textbooks on PowerPoint are written to take the complete beginner through the different steps of producing and presenting with the software. And whilst most academics have some familiarity with the software, learning more can be extremely useful. I can’t make a strong recommendation here, as learning a computer programme from a book is a very personal thing. My main advice would be browse for a book that suits you. One that I did like was:
LOWE, D., 2006. PowerPoint 2007 for Dummies. Oxford: John Wiley and Sons.
Whilst not radically different from any number of other PowerPoint manuals, I liked this book for two reasons. Firstly, it had a few amusing cartoons and secondly, there were a couple of sections with tips about presenting with PowerPoint. NB: I’ve looked at the 2003 version; presumably the 2007 version retains the important points.

How to…

• One brilliant resource for staff is the online tutorials located in NOW where there are a number of really useful guides to be found.
• This NTU document is divided into a number of sections and offers practical advice on: Thinking about the lecture; Structuring a lecture; Communication basics; Student attitudes to lectures and learning; Developing greater interactivity; and Dealing with disruptive behaviour.
  Case studies
• The HEA have a small number of case studies of large group teaching.

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