Strategies and tactics

The following are suggestions for building engagement in lectures.

Action	Benefits	What it could look like in action
Start with a hook Use an image or statement that is intriguing, seemingly out of place, makes a bold claim, or connects to common experiences. Tap into curiosity, emotion, or mystery. Make it brief, but vivid.	Builds curiosity and attention from the very start of your lecture. Can increase engagement as students look for the ‘answer’.	You may wonder why I have a picture of a unicorn as the title slide on a lecture about predatory competition… as we go through things today, see if you can guess why. Have you ever gone to the shops and bought everything else except the one thing you went there for? Today we are talking about memory and why forgetting things is actually a feature, not a bug.
Punctuate your presentation Stop your delivery every 12-15 minutes and give the audience a different task to focus on.	Audience engagement inevitably falls away after 12-15 minutes of listening to a speaker. It can only be rebuilt after a switch in focus. Even a short activity helps reset attention on the topic. The different activities can also act as a feedback channel for the teacher to check understanding or generate new ideas to respond to.	Use the QR code that links to a word cloud. Everyone give me one word you think of when I say “Ancient Rome”. A quick psychology experiment that helps to understand this concept. Everybody raise their right hand….now keep your hand up if you always do what you are told…
Signposts and milestones Signal to the audience where they are and where you are going.	Breaks the content into chunks and allows the audience to situate what they have learned into a bigger picture.	So that covers the theory side of what we are looking at this morning. Next, I am going to move on and show you how we can observe this theory in action. “I’ve given you the reasons the Balkans were so politically tense in 1914. Now we will move on to the wider and tragic consequences.”
Encourage interactivity Engagement is not just about the audience connecting with you. Student pairs and seating groups can act as channels of activity that re-focus attention.	Creates a sense of belonging with peers. Fosters active learning. Peer assessment and feedback is important to learning.	Enough of my voice. Turn to the person next to you, and in one minute, think how you might apply the principles of Bayes’ Theorem to spam email detection. For the next 60 seconds Play rock-paper-scissors with the person next to you. Keep track of how many wins and draws there are. Then we will unpack the statistics behind this.
Stop talking There is nothing wrong with a silence in a lecture if it is productive.	Allows students the time to digest content or undertake the activity you asked them to do. Also allows you to catch your breath, have a sip of water and gather your thoughts for the next segment.	Use the QR code to get to the quiz while I take a break from talking. This quote from Marx is central to the idea. I will give you a moment to read it and consider why it is crucial.
Curiosity gaps Similar to hooks. Pose questions or interesting facts that you won’t answer immediately. Link the coming content as essential to unlocking the mystery.	Build anticipation and attention. Students will be motivated to listen to unlock the answer.	How can a single, ordinary book on Amazon end up with selling price of 23 million dollars? Because that’s exactly what happened in 2009. I’ll tell you how it happened. But first, we need to understand feedback loops in automated systems. Did you know that Napoleon was once forced into a humiliating retreat by an army of rabbits? No? I’ll tell you about it after we look at some of his more successful campaigns.
Move Move around the space to engage with different sections of the audience. (This obviously dependent on teaching space, technology and personal mobility.)	Breaks the monotony of being locked behind a lectern. Is more dynamic and builds connection with the audience.	“OK I am going to come over to this side of the room and ask people what they think.”
Rhetorical questions Put out some big questions for students to ponder during the ensuing content.	Engages students affectively and cognitively by inviting internal reflection or emotional reaction without the need for an immediate response.	“If people stop participating in voting, can you really say that you still call it a democracy?” “Are natural disasters every truly 100% natural?”
Tell stories Every discipline has its stories and its ability to connect to human experience. Stories are powerful tools for engaging leaners because they humanise content as well as build a parasocial relationship with the presenter or the people in the story.	Can help to anchor recall through the emotional or narrative experiences described. Stories from your own practice in a subject build credibility and rapport with students.	Two months ago I got a speeding ticket. 55 in 50 zone! Two in the morning, no other cars around….except the police camera car! So is that fair? Is it justice? Or just enforcing order?.... Let’s use my ticket experience to look at the ethical debate around strict liability. When I was working on a highway bridge project as a young engineer we had a problem with the concrete piers cracking. Every test we ran on the concrete showed it was prefect in quality. But it turned out it was actually something more important that was letting us down…
Dipsticks Check in with students during or at the end of a lecture to gauge comprehension levels. The “Muddy Moment” is a popular approach to this, asking students which aspects of the content they are finding most challenging or frustrating.	Allows lecturer to keep a check on meeting ILOs and specific aspects that require reinforcement. Gives students a voice in their learning.	Thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs sideways to indicate confidence about understanding. Use an anonymous Padlet or note paper to answer the question “What most confuses or frustrates you about today’s topic?”
Sticky endings Close with a statement that’s memorable or meaningful in encapsulating the main idea. It might be a powerful phrase, a visual, a challenge, or a call to action.	Students are still thinking about the lecture content after they leave.	So remember, bad code is like bad handwriting: If someone can’t read it, then they come home from the shops with apricots instead of antibiotics. Every map hides something. Whenever you look at a map from now on, don’t just look at what is shown, but what isn’t. And who decided that…and why?

Action

Benefits

What it could look like in action

Start with a hook

Use an image or statement that is intriguing, seemingly out of place, makes a bold claim, or connects to common experiences.

Tap into curiosity, emotion, or mystery.

Make it brief, but vivid.

Builds curiosity and attention from the very start of your lecture.

Can increase engagement as students look for the ‘answer’.

You may wonder why I have a picture of a unicorn as the title slide on a lecture about predatory competition… as we go through things today, see if you can guess why.

Have you ever gone to the shops and bought everything else except the one thing you went there for? Today we are talking about memory and why forgetting things is actually a feature, not a bug.

Punctuate your presentation

Stop your delivery every 12-15 minutes and give the audience a different task to focus on.

Audience engagement inevitably falls away after 12-15 minutes of listening to a speaker. It can only be rebuilt after a switch in focus. Even a short activity helps reset attention on the topic.

The different activities can also act as a feedback channel for the teacher to check understanding or generate new ideas to respond to.

Use the QR code that links to a word cloud. Everyone give me one word you think of when I say “Ancient Rome”.

A quick psychology experiment that helps to understand this concept. Everybody raise their right hand….now keep your hand up if you always do what you are told…

Signposts and milestones

Signal to the audience where they are and where you are going.

Breaks the content into chunks and allows the audience to situate what they have learned into a bigger picture.

So that covers the theory side of what we are looking at this morning. Next, I am going to move on and show you how we can observe this theory in action.

“I’ve given you the reasons the Balkans were so politically tense in 1914. Now we will move on to the wider and tragic consequences.”

Encourage interactivity

Engagement is not just about the audience connecting with you. Student pairs and seating groups can act as channels of activity that re-focus attention.

Creates a sense of belonging with peers.

Fosters active learning.

Peer assessment and feedback is important to learning.

Enough of my voice. Turn to the person next to you, and in one minute, think how you might apply the principles of Bayes’ Theorem to spam email detection.

For the next 60 seconds Play rock-paper-scissors with the person next to you. Keep track of how many wins and draws there are. Then we will unpack the statistics behind this.

Stop talking

There is nothing wrong with a silence in a lecture if it is productive.

Allows students the time to digest content or undertake the activity you asked them to do.

Also allows you to catch your breath, have a sip of water and gather your thoughts for the next segment.

Use the QR code to get to the quiz while I take a break from talking.

This quote from Marx is central to the idea. I will give you a moment to read it and consider why it is crucial.

Curiosity gaps

Similar to hooks. Pose questions or interesting facts that you won’t answer immediately. Link the coming content as essential to unlocking the mystery.

Build anticipation and attention. Students will be motivated to listen to unlock the answer.

How can a single, ordinary book on Amazon end up with selling price of 23 million dollars? Because that’s exactly what happened in 2009. I’ll tell you how it happened. But first, we need to understand feedback loops in automated systems.

Did you know that Napoleon was once forced into a humiliating retreat by an army of rabbits? No? I’ll tell you about it after we look at some of his more successful campaigns.

Move

Move around the space to engage with different sections of the audience.

(This obviously dependent on teaching space, technology and personal mobility.)

Breaks the monotony of being locked behind a lectern. Is more dynamic and builds connection with the audience.

“OK I am going to come over to this side of the room and ask people what they think.”

Rhetorical questions

Put out some big questions for students to ponder during the ensuing content.

Engages students affectively and cognitively by inviting internal reflection or emotional reaction without the need for an immediate response.

“If people stop participating in voting, can you really say that you still call it a democracy?”

“Are natural disasters every truly 100% natural?”

Tell stories

Every discipline has its stories and its ability to connect to human experience.

Stories are powerful tools for engaging leaners because they humanise content as well as build a parasocial relationship with the presenter or the people in the story.

Can help to anchor recall through the emotional or narrative experiences described.

Stories from your own practice in a subject build credibility and rapport with students.

Two months ago I got a speeding ticket. 55 in 50 zone! Two in the morning, no other cars around….except the police camera car! So is that fair? Is it justice? Or just enforcing order?.... Let’s use my ticket experience to look at the ethical debate around strict liability.

When I was working on a highway bridge project as a young engineer we had a problem with the concrete piers cracking. Every test we ran on the concrete showed it was prefect in quality. But it turned out it was actually something more important that was letting us down…

Dipsticks

Check in with students during or at the end of a lecture to gauge comprehension levels. The “Muddy Moment” is a popular approach to this, asking students which aspects of the content they are finding most challenging or frustrating.

Allows lecturer to keep a check on meeting ILOs and specific aspects that require reinforcement.

Gives students a voice in their learning.

Thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs sideways to indicate confidence about understanding.

Use an anonymous Padlet or note paper to answer the question “What most confuses or frustrates you about today’s topic?”

Sticky endings

Close with a statement that’s memorable or meaningful in encapsulating the main idea. It might be a powerful phrase, a visual, a challenge, or a call to action.

Students are still thinking about the lecture content after they leave.

So remember, bad code is like bad handwriting: If someone can’t read it, then they come home from the shops with apricots instead of antibiotics.

Every map hides something. Whenever you look at a map from now on, don’t just look at what is shown, but what isn’t. And who decided that…and why?

Putting these into practice