Being in a lecture

The best thing about being in a lecture, when you are a lecturer, is the ability to be in the shoes of the student. Eventhough I was a on the student side when I was in Campus, I never thought of the lecturing aspect of it. Now I carefully assimilate the method and approach taken by lecturers, and how they affect me and my colleagues.

For instance I found that telling anecdotes help a great deal. People who are literally falling asleep will wake up, just to hear an amusing or sometimes a story directly relevant to the topic under discussion.

Its amazing what these "stories" can do. Students whose minds have been wandering into the realm of "what am I gonna have for lunch?", "when is this dope going to finish?" "enough already, yaawwwwnn....", suddenly are all ears waiting eagerly for your story. And, I found out, the more it is closer to your real life, the better it is. It also helps build a bond bringing lecturer and student closer. There are some who may not agree about having such a bond, but I believe it is has BIG positive impact.

Another thing which I experienced is the effectiveness of group work during class. I never had the experience of participating in such activity in the traditional learning environment of campus, but my MBA has definitely opened a new door. My initial perception to such group work was, "waste of time", "lecturer hasn't prepared, so he is trying to use up some time"... but how soon I was to change this totally wrong picture on group activity.

Being involved in such grouped activity helped liven up the learning, rather than have a boring lecture to listen to. Now YOU have something to do. Even a case study, given to a group is great. Different ideas come through; some good some, well let's say interesting, shall we?

So this inturn changed the way I started delivering lectures. Started doing more group work in the class. I got the feeling some students were not very favourable towards it, but however, later, like me, I think they changed.