Have you ever heard of Interactive Lectures? If you haven’t, Interactive lectures are classes in which the instructor breaks the lecture at least once per class to have students participate in an activity that lets them work directly with the material. (Definition)

Interactive techniques allow students to become more engaged with your course lecture and materials. By simply interjecting an activity or activities during your lecture, these opportunities reinforce your content and provide opportunities for your students to get more involved with the content.

How to Apply Interactive Lectures

Don’t’ be afraid to experiment.  Interactive instructional strategies provide opportunities for students to strengthen their observational skills, listening skills, communication skills, and interpersonal skills (The University of Texas Austin).

Examples of Interactive Lectures

Interactive Lecture Materials – hand out your presentation and have some of the content blank so students are required to fill the blanks or script. This method helps student to think about what they want to write and how they want to explain it in their own words.

Formative Questioning – Ask students questions and allow them to interact with you during your presentation. This enables the instructor to get a reading on how well the students understand your lecture and whether to speed up or slow down your delivery.  It also provides students with the ability to share with you and their peers how well they understand your lecture and content.

BackChannel – is the practice of using networked computers to maintain real-time online conversations alongside your presentation. Your students are able to view and listen to your presentation, anonymously provide feedback, ask questions and  provide examples.

For more information, please see The University of Texas at Austin