ACTIVE LEARNING TECHNIQUE 31
Lecture Wrapper
| Complexity involved in | |
| Planning | LOW |
| Developing Materials | MODERATE |
| Implementing in Class | LOW |
Description and Purpose
Lecture Wrappers enable students to listen to a lecture to identify its key points and then compare their judgments to what the instructor identifies as the most-important points. Through this process, students self-assess their ability to listen actively and identify salient information as well as their understanding of the lecture content.
This technique helps students identify gaps in their understanding. It focuses their concentration on important ideas, reducing emphasis on extraneous details. A Lecture Wrapper allows for self-assessment, but it is less subjective than some self-assessment measures because it is grounded in actual performance, so students can gauge the accuracy of their assessment. Through this process, the technique can help students to improve their judgment skills. Lecture Wrappers are also techniques for helping students learn to think like an expert in the field. In addition, they help students to become more responsible for their own learning.
Lecture Wrappers help instructors assess student understanding of key content and concepts. Instructors can use the information gleaned from this technique to correct student misunderstandings and gaps in comprehension as well as to shape the direction and layout of future lectures.
Preparation
- Decide how students will record their responses. Index cards are particularly useful for this activity because they help focus student responses by limiting the amount of information they can record, but you can also ask students to record the main points on their own paper.
- Prior to class, identify the three to five most-important points of your lecture.
Procedures
- Inform students that they should listen actively to the information in the lecture. Tell them that in addition to taking their regular notes, they should listen for the three most-important points. Inform them that you will collect their responses but that you will not grade them—indicate that the goal of the activity is for them to self-assess and improve their listening skills.
- Proceed with the lecture.
- Pass out the index cards, or tell students that they will record the main points on their own paper, and ask students to record the three most-important points.
- Collect their responses.
- Reveal what you see as the three most-important points.
- Ask students to compare their main points with yours.
- Consider reporting out at the next session on the full-class responses or alternately having a discussion about the differences in student responses and yours.
| Video Lecture | Large Lecture |
| After a VoIP or video lecture, ask students to respond to a quiz on what they believe to be the three main points. Reveal your points and ask students to compare their responses to yours. | Index cards can be a useful way to collect information on the three main points. If it is a very large lecture, consider using survey or polling software. |
Examples
Organizational Theory (Lecture)
In this medium-sized lecture course, the goal was to have students develop a comprehensive understanding of what organizations are and how they work. The professor was worried that students were becoming so bogged down in the details of different theories that they were not getting the bigger picture. The professor decided to use Lecture Wrappers at the end of each lecturette on a specific theory.
For example, after a lecturette that focused on systems theory, the professor asked students to write down the three major domains of systems theory inquiry. Students recorded their responses on index cards. He then revealed his main areas: philosophy, science, and technology. Several students had at least two of the three responses, and they were able to discuss all three are major areas of inquiry. Several students had also written cybernetics, which he had mentioned in the lecture, and they had a discussion about whether the terms are synonymous or whether one is a subset of the other. All in all, he felt the exercise had been productive, particularly in its influence on the quality of course discussion.
Music Appreciation (Large Lecture)
This music course intends to help students understand the elements of music and apply knowledge of musical styles to composer and composition identification across several historical periods. The professor knew that in previous courses, students had had difficulty grasping the main themes of the historical and social context for each period, so she decided to use Lecture Wrappers to help the new group of students do a better job of this task.
Before her lecture on the historical and social context of the medieval period, she told students that they should take notes as usual but that they should also try to identify the three main points of her lecture about the period. At the end of her lecture, she handed out index cards and asked students to record what they believed to be the three main points. She collected the cards and then told students what she believed were the three main points. She provided her rationale for the importance of her points.
She opened up class for discussion about what clues there might have been to signal the three main points. Students correctly noted that her presentation slides had a different format for the main points. They also noted that she paused when summarizing a point and asked for questions before starting in on a new one. And they noted that she used language such as “up next” or “another important aspect of this period” to signal a new idea. Students believed that they would be able to pay attention to the cues and identify the key points more accurately in the next session. She planned to use the technique in each of the lectures to follow.
JavaScript for Programmers (Video Lecture)
In this online course, the professor teaches a unit to introduce model-view-controller architecture. The professor had noticed that students did not do as well on their exams on this topic as she would have liked, and she believed that the main reason for this was that they got bogged down in the details rather than paying attention to the main ideas. She decided to use Lecture Wrappers to help students intentionally focus on the key points.
The professor posted a video lecture and then posted an ungraded quiz that asked students to rate the three main points from the lecture. She reviewed their responses. She then posted a follow-up video explaining what she believed to be the three main points from the lecture were and her rationale for identifying the ones she did. In her lecture, she encouraged students to compare their responses to hers, and she described techniques for identifying key points, such as looking for what is the main idea and what is elaboration.
Variations and Extensions
- Present some tips on active listening prior to the activity. For example:
- Come prepared for the new topic (e.g., look over notes from the last class, read the assignments, and so forth).
- Face the speaker and strive to maintain eye contact within limits (when live) or stay focused on the screen (when video).
- Listen to the words and attempt to understand what the speaker is saying.
- Listen for main ideas and relevant details.
- Pay close attention when the speaker is analyzing, synthesizing, or processing information (e.g., when the speaker makes lists, notes cause and effect, or spends time on a specific topic or issue).
- When live, wait for the speaker to pause before asking clarification questions.
- Ask questions that will help understanding.
- Ask students to provide a rationale for why the three points were the most important; doing so will help you to evaluate their logical reasoning skills.
- Ask students to pair up to discuss the main concepts prior to turning in their cards or handouts.
- Present a list of approximately ten potential main points and ask students to identify the top three or alternately rank them. Collect their responses through either a polling system (e.g., clickers or phone-in poll) or alternately through a handout.
- Ask students to do a top-ten important points list. Put students into pairs or small groups and ask them to rank them in order from least important to most important.
Observations and Advice
This technique is at its best when used repeatedly over time. It enables students to have practice at identifying important concepts and to see improvement. Lovett (2008), the originator of this technique, noted that fewer than half of the students (45 percent) were able to identify the most-important points accurately on the first try. Seventy-five percent were able to identify them correctly by the third try.
This technique is typically ungraded, but for some classes, it may be important to provide some extrinsic motivation incentive for students to take the assignment seriously and to turn in their responses. In such cases, assign a few points for the grade, possibly as participation points.
Key References and Resources
- Lovett, M. C. (2008, January 29). Teaching metacognition. Presentation at Educause Learning Initiative Conference. Retrieved from https://net.educause.edu/upload/presentations/eli081/fs03/metacognition-eli.pdf
- Nilson, L. B. (2013). Creating self-regulated learners: Strategies to strengthen students' self-awareness and learning skills. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.