Suggestion 32. Use an abbreviated set of lecture notes

IF YOU WANT TO:

• Be well-prepared

• Have a more interesting style of presentation

Using an abbreviated set of lecture notes.

Many excellent teachers describe a two-stage process in the preparation of their lecture notes. A history professor, for example, says "First, I write out a detailed set of lecture notes over the weekend or the night before class. Then, on the morning before class, I take about an hour and a half to reduce these notes to a brief outline on index cards."

"Students like structure," he explains. "But they do not like terribly formal lectures delivered verbatim. Once I have worked out fully what I want to say, I communicate it more forcefully and more informally from a small number of index cards."

Limitations on Use of Suggestion

  Discipline:  None
Course Level:  None
 Course Size:  None
        Mode:  Lecture, primarily

Copyright 1983 by the Regents of the University of California

Next suggestion