In a time when there are so many different models of interactive classroom pedagogy to choose from, how do you decide on which one is right for your teaching style and personality? Or when is it best to go it alone and develop your own approach? Roundtable participants will share experiences and brainstorm ideas to these and other questions relevant to creating an interactive classroom model that works for them. Through a university grant program I have been awarded three sequential grants on how to use disciplinary knowledge, background and personality to build meaningful student participation into lecture courses. In keeping with deWinstanley and Bjork (2002) I have “assumed that the fundamental goal of the lecture is to increase student learning beyond what they can learn from the textbook” (p. 19). When I moved from small-class critique-oriented teaching to large lecture courses, active learning moved from during class to sometime afterwards, when students would engage with the material through activities and assignments. Over the last three years I have striven to bring meaningful in-class learning back to my courses. To do this I have experimented with in-lecture activities that have run from a few minutes to three hours; students have worked individually and in groups up to ten; I’ve used clickers, overhead projectors, cell phone cameras and discussion boards; student have worked on paper, computers and shouted out answers. Bring your problems, questions or share your solutions in this lively discussion.
deWinstanley, P. A., & Bjork, R. A. (2002). Successful Lecturing: Presenting Information in Ways That Engage Effective Processing. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2002(89), 19–31. doi:10.1002/tl.44
