Lecture Technique

Introduction

These notes are part of the Wing Lecture Technique course and should you wish to improve your training skills it is recommended that you attend this course.

Aims and Objectives

Define the aims and objectives of the lecture/lesson. You need to do this before you even start the planning of the content for your lesson.

Having established the aims and objectives you also need to inform your class of these, as they will then be able to place the lesson in context. It will also allow them to understand the outcome, which will either be theoretical in terms of information gained for the exams or a practical ability gained.

Planning

Off the cuff lessons do not work. If it is your intention to waste time this is the best way to do it. The old saw that Prior Planning Prevents Particularly Poor Performance is true. Planning enables you to provide a good, interesting, enjoyable and MEMORABLE lesson, which surely is what it is all about.

Planning will also allow for the production and obtaining of the required visual aids, or perhaps a specialist speaker.

Your Audience

Know your enemy! Pitch the lesson at the right level. If necessary carry out some revision or brainstorming at the beginning of the lesson to check.

Again, going over the aims and objectives with the class will enable them to understand the importance of the information they will receive and how they will be expected to use the knowledge.

Time Management

It is not easy to plan a lesson to finish in exactly the allotted time. Prior planning of the lesson should include a quick run through to check the timing. Which in turn should allow for revision and questions.

Cadets only have a full concentration span of 30 minutes (and that's if the lesson is well planned and executed!). So plan for breaks and changes of activity and pace.

For unit planning the first parade night is usually the best for lessons and theory as the cadets will only have had a few days at school.

Do not try and regain lost time by rushing the lesson. It is counter-productive. You need time to summarise and check the understanding of your audience.

Room Management

Try different seating arrangements. Some layouts will work better than others. It is also advisable to consider the style of the lesson and the presentation aids used, as these will affect the best layout.

Check that the room will be clear of interruptions for the duration of your lesson. This will include physical access by others, noise from adjacent activities, movement of the sun and other lighting effects.

Try to ensure that the room is at a reasonable temperature, too warm and the audience will go to sleep on you. Too cold, and they will not concentrate on your lesson.

Visual Aids

All lectures are made more interesting and stimulating by the use of visual aids. At best have an example of the lesson subject to hand, if this is not possible try to get photographs or posters.

If you use view foils these should be high quality and have no spelling mistakes! Don't overload a view foil with information and do leave it on screen long enough for everyone to read. It helps the audience feel part of the lesson and have some ownership if they participate in filling in information on blank view foils during the lesson.

Alternatively supplement the view foils using a white board. Again the lesson is made more interesting by the use of coloured pens. However brown is not perceived well and yellow can be difficult to see in bright light on a white board.

Do not use permanent markers on a white board!

Mannerisms

We all have them, and they are emphasised when we are under stress. Try to minimise them, common faults are hopping up and down, arm waving, "change" rattling, repetition, wandering about, meandering off the point and talking to the board or screen.

Make eye contact with the audience, put life, interest and expression into your voice.

Feedback

Take the time after each lesson to consider how it went. Learn from what went well and change the things that crashed and burned.

Your best critics are the cadets and you can judge your success in theirs. Exam results still count.

Where possible watch other lecturers, note what made their presentation interesting and adapt it for yourself. Provide feedback to other lecturers (critique not criticise).

Summary

You are in a special position, you can affect the lives of a lot of people during your time with the cadets. Invest your time well, for all our futures.

Enjoy what you do, after all you volunteered for it!