We discussed teaching with audio videos with translation captions vs. no captions vs. subtitles. If I don't know much about a subject, then captions would help me learn more faster. If I just listen, and I don't know a lot about the subject, then I won't retain much information cause I'm a very visual learner. But, if I already know about a subject, then I generally find captions distracting. I can listen to someone speaking, and pick up on new information if I'm not also struggling to understand the general topic.
For students just starting to learn another language, I think the same is true, captions with audio enhance learning. Advanced students might benefit from no captions or subtitles in their L2.
I've been considering how this might apply to the lectures I write for my Intro Oceanography class of ~170 students. The powerpoint lectures are packed with pictures, words, links to more information, and I show a lot of videos during class. I realize that most of the powerpoints I show have WAY too much information on them (cognitive overload), but the words on the slides partially serve as study materials for students. Next time I teach this course, I'm going to pare down the number of words on a slide (and the number of slides). But a complication I've come to realize is that when there is something on the board, students have to write it down (I'm guilty of this myself), especially if it's new info. So when I click to a new slide and start talking about it, the students aren't listening, they're just writing down whatever is on the slide (even though they can download the presentation before coming to class, or even have it with them in class). I think it's good that they're writing, I think it's a good strategy to commit things to memory, and maybe they are listening to what I'm saying...but my worry is that if I say something that isn't on a slide, are they going to write down what I'm saying? Or are they relying on their memory of what they've heard? Or are they only going to treat the written info as "potential test material"? Furthermore, I've recently had students ask me to "go back to that slide" so they can finish writing things down, which is annoying cause they're wasting precious class time since they already have access to it! Why don't they print out the lectures? That's what I do, then I take notes on that paper with the slide right there.
I don't record my lectures, although other Oceanography teachers have, so the lectures are made available for students to listen to later (over, and over again). At the other end of the spectrum, other Oceano teachers create sparse and short lectures, and mostly talk about the material. I'm trying to find a good middle ground to appeal to all types of learners without committing cognitive overload. Sigh, maybe I'll create a feedback survey and ask the students if they found the presentations too wordy or not wordy enough, too long, or an ok length. One more thing added to the never-ending end-of-the-quarter to-do list.
I'm not sure if this will help, but I can tell you what I did to address the "Can you go back to the last slide?" question. On the first day of class, I told my students that the slides would always be available on GauchoSpace as both Powerpoints and PDFs immediately after class and that they should feel free to use them as study tools. I also told them that, for that reason, I would not stop and go back to particular slides during class, and that if they are unable to write down everything they want to, then they should write "SP" (for "see presentation") in their notes and move on to the next slide with the rest of the class. After class, they can review their notes and the presentation at their own pace and fill in any gaps.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kayla!
DeleteCarlye, you raise a lot of interesting issues. I think that if you do your feedback survey, you will get a range of answers at both ends of the continuum. That's to be expected if we acknowledge that there are many different learning styles and preferences. But you might also get some useful information about your current PPT teaching style, and hopefully, you'll see a trend to the answers or some sort of consensus.
ReplyDeleteHere's an idea: since you think that you have way too much information on a slide, what if you pared down the info on the slide but added it to the "Notes" section of PPT. That way, when you lecture, you can look at the notes to expand on the slide, but the slide isn't cluttered with all those details. Then, since the students can access the PPT, they will also have all the notes and won't have to be scribbling furiously while you talk. The notes will be the "potential test material."
Kayla, your answer with regard to "going back to the last slide" is spot on!
Thanks for the feedback!
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