Building Competency in Diabetes Education THE ESSENTIALS

11-32 | CHAPTER 11

Planning effective lectures 1. Organize yourself. • Prepare an organized draft outline first, considering the proposed objectives. • Read the literature and refine the learning objectives based on the literature and your needs assessment. • Organize your content from simple to complex, allowing for the integration of empowerment principles. Encourage audience participation/interaction, exploring the emotional context of the subject and opportunity for discussion, application to individual circumstances. • Refine the content into an outline you can use, with point-form headings and sub points (see point 3, below). • Use audiovisual (AV) aids to accent key points, not to give verbatim notes (see point 5, below). • Prepare any extra notes/reminders you may need. 2. Organize the sequence of content to lighten the mental load. • Relate unfamiliar concepts to familiar ones. • Go from simple concepts to complex ones; use examples. • Have handouts that include definitions and diagrams or slides. • List useful references or resources. 3. Use AV aids appropriately. • Use AV aids to reinforce, give examples and/or illustrate a concept. o Doing a presentation/ lecture without slides is uncommon but possible. o Remember that AV aids are a behaviourist technique, a reinforcer. If they are used more to help the teacher remember what to say, they may distract from the learning experience. o AV aids are meant to aid, not replace, presentation of content. • Practice using the computer so you are familiar with the technology. Do not talk to the slides. Look at the audience unless you are pointing out details on a slide. Use the computer screen as your guide. Placing the screen to the side, rather than directly behind you, may help. • Ask yourself: Do AV aids help or hinder in achieving the learning objective?