Changing A Traditional Lecturing Approach Into An Interactive Approach: Effects of Interrupting The Monologue in Lectures
Changing A Traditional Lecturing Approach Into An Interactive Approach: Effects of Interrupting The Monologue in Lectures
Changing A Traditional Lecturing Approach Into An Interactive Approach: Effects of Interrupting The Monologue in Lectures
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Printed in Great Britain. # 2002 TEMPUS Publications.
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276 L. Van Dijk and W. Jochems
they adopt a superficial approach to learning that increasing amount of practitioners are now
subject. Conversely, but less strongly, in classes publishing examples of interactive teaching
where students report adopting significantly methods and reporting on their success [18±20].
deeper approaches to learning, teaching staff The choice of many lecturers to adopt a tradi-
describe their own approach to teaching as more tional lecturing approach can be considered as an
oriented towards students and to changing inheritance of the past, when teaching was viewed
students' conceptions. These studies thus highlight as a structured transmission of knowledge. For
the importance of discouraging teacher-focused many lecturers, their own experiences as students
transmission of teaching in attempts to improve are the only frame of reference that they have and,
the quality of student learning. consequently, many lecturers teach in the way that
In addition, studies comparing classrooms using they themselves were taught [21]. They feel comfor-
active learning to those using passive learning table with this traditional teaching approach,
show that active learning methods generally which they regard as an efficient way of teaching,
result in greater retention of material at the end and are reluctant to teach in a more interactive
of a class, superior problem-solving skills, more way. Activating students requires time which they
positive attitudes and higher motivation for future would normally devote to lecturing. Lecturers
learning [1]. In addition, active learning may bene- often voice the concern that they will not get
fit students by providing greater and richer enjoy- enough material across in interactive lectures and
ment of class meetings. According to Shenker et al. that this will negatively affect student learning.
students like classrooms that involve active learn- Many lecturers thus remain sceptical where
ing and teachers find such classes more fun and less interactive teaching is concerned. They question
boring as well [10]. It is hypothesised that students' the generalisation of foreign (mostly American)
increased enjoyment of lectures may, in turn, studies to a Dutch context and the generalisation
encourage their engagement with learning materi- of studies conducted within the context of arts or
als inside and outside the lecture room [11], thus social sciences to a technical engineering context.
positively influencing student results in the long This article reports the results of an intervention
term [1]. study which was carried out at Delft University of
Despite the increasing amount of publications Technology (DUT). Two experienced lecturers
describing the merits of activating instruction in were trained to change their lecturing approach
lectures, there is still a large gap between educa- in order to improve student learning. Based on the
tional research and what happens in practice. A research literature described above, it was expected
survey among the university teaching staff at a that student motivation, study behaviour and
technological university in the Netherlands learning results would benefit from a change
showed that the average lecturer still tends to towards more interactive lecturing. Below, the
concentrate on covering and explaining the design and the results of the study will be
subject matter, and only occasionally poses ques- described.
tions or allows students to ask questions [12].
This was similar to the results of a study
performed by Vinke [13]. Vinke observed 16 DESIGN
members of teaching staff and found they were
teaching in a traditional way, using 80% of class The effect of activating instruction in lectures on
time for transmission of information. The class student results, study behaviour and motivation
size, often less than 40 students, did not provide was studied in two introductory courses in
these teachers with a compelling reason to mechanics. Course I was programmed in the
lecture in a non-traditional way. Jochems [14] students' second year of study and consisted of a
concluded, based on the results of the study series of 16 lectures. Course II was programmed in
of Vinke [5], that teachers have some kind of the students' first year of study and consisted of a
`standard mode of operation' with respect to series of five lectures, five tutorials and weekly
teaching. He stated that, for a lot of teachers, tests. For students in both courses, the course
this `standard mode of operation' equates to studied was their first course on mechanics at
traditional lecturing. university. Selection of the lecturers involved in
The picture painted by Van Dijk et al., Vinke the study was based on availability, willingness to
and Jochems is not unique. It is a commonly participate and on the representativeness of their
shared misconception among teaching staff teaching approach for the general lecturing
that teaching large classes is equivalent to tradi- approach used at DUT, as described in Van Dijk
tional lecturing. The relevant literature, however, et al. [12].
suggests various instructional strategies which may For each course, a quasi-experimental design
be used in lectures to foster a more interactive was used which can be characterised as a `post
climate characterised by greater student participa- test only between subjects design'. First, data were
tion [4, 15±16]. A study conducted by Murray and collected when the lecturers used the traditional
Brightman confirms the hypothesis that large lecturing style to which they were accustomed.
engineering classes can be activated successfully if Then, both lecturers were trained in a workshop
realistic goals and clear limits are set [17]. An and received individual consultation with respect
Changing a Traditional Lecturing Approach into an Interactive Approach 277
to activating instruction in lectures. The format of perception of a course. Prior knowledge influences
the workshop consisted of four half-day meetings. students' decisions to focus on certain aspects of a
Working methods consisted mainly of a series of course, their ability to understand messages and
presentations, demonstrations, discussions, assign- their judgements on the relative importance of
ments and practice sessions with feedback. Addi- messages [22±23]. As the course studied was the
tional time investment for the participants in the students' first university course on mechanics since
workshop consisted of two hours preparation time their graduation from secondary school, their
for each meeting. After the workshop, both final grades in mathematics and physics for the
lecturers received individual consultation, which Dutch secondary education exam were used as an
ranged from discussion sessions with an experi- indication of relevant prior knowledge for the
enced mechanics lecturer and an educational course.
researcher to on-the-job coaching using observa- Differences between the control group and the
tion of lectures, followed by feedback sessions. experimental group in the students' mean grades on
Due to the illness of lecturer I, only lecturer II mathematics and physics were tested using inde-
received on-the-job coaching prior to the lectures pendent-samples t-tests. Test results showed that,
for the experimental group. To minimise differ- for course I, both groups were similar in terms of
ences between the consultation processes of both prior knowledge. For the second course, a signifi-
lecturers, lecturer I received on-the-job coaching cant difference was found in the students' mean
during the series of experimental lectures. grade in physics, the students in the control group
Both lecturers adapted their lectures to an inter- having a higher grade (t 3.03, df 306, p < .01).
active teaching approach, for instance by incorpor- In addition, prior to the first lecture the students
ating assignments, questions and peer instruction completed a questionnaire concerning their expec-
in their lectures. The next year, data were collected tations of the didactic approach in lectures. The
during the same two courses on mechanics, which literature suggests that student expectations signif-
were now given using an interactive teaching icantly influence their interpretation of the instruc-
approach. For both courses, the format of the tion offered, as they focus students' perception on
experimental course was similar to that of the different aspects of a situation [24]. The same
control group course, the difference in lecturing teaching context may thus be perceived by differ-
approach (interactive versus traditional) being the ent students in different ways. Students' expecta-
only exception. tions not only influence their perception of the
It is important to note here that, due to the learning environment but also their performance.
illness of lecturer II in the year of the control group Lonka et al. found that congruence between the
measurement, another lecturer gave the majority teaching conceptions of the students and the teach-
of the lectures in course II. It was, therefore, not ing approach adopted by the teacher is also related
possible to use the data of these lectures as a to better student performance [25]. As these studies
control group measurement. In the previous year, show that students' conceptions may influence the
however, similar data were obtained in course II as effect of activating instruction, it is important to
part of a naturalistic case study. We chose to use ascertain whether the expectations of the students
the data of the previous year as the control group in the control group are similar to those of the
measurement, because this data adequately reflects experimental group.
the `natural' lecturing approach of lecturer II. Students' conceptions of teaching were
For each course, comparison of the results of the measured using a questionnaire consisting of
two cohorts (control cohort and experimental) will three scales (see Fig. 1). The first scale refers to a
provide insights into the effects of activating traditional lecturing approach in which the teacher
instruction. Such comparison is based on the explains the subject matter. The second scale refers
assumption that, for each course, students in to an activating lecturing approach. This approach
both the experimental and the control cohorts can be considered more process-oriented, as the
are similar on aspects that may influence the effects lecturer stimulates students to employ suitable
of activating instruction. The assumption of simi- learning activities to construct, change and utilise
larity of the experimental and control groups was their knowledge. Finally, the third scale, the
tested using students' prior knowledge and their `orientation' approach, refers to teacher-centred
conceptions of teaching. The results are presented instructional activities aimed at facilitating
in the next section. students' processing of subject matter (e.g. present-
ing an outline or highlighting main points).
The response in the control groups was 72%
SIMILARITY OF EXPERIMENTAL AND (N 108) and 47% (N 294) respectively for
CONTROL GROUPS course I and II. For the experimental groups the
response was 78% (N 82) and 68% (N 282).
Students' prior knowledge was used to compare The reliability of the questionnaire can be con-
the similarity of the control group and the experi- sidered fairly good, with .76 for the total
mental group, as this significantly influences the questionnaire and > .60 for the three scales.
interpretative framework of students. It may thus Again, independent-samples t-tests were
have a significant influence on the students' conducted to test the differences between the
278 L. Van Dijk and W. Jochems
Traditional approach I expect the lecturer to explain the material in detail. 7 .61
Activating approach I expect the lecturer to stimulate me to think about the subject matter. 6 .66
Orientating approach I expect the lecturer to highlight the main points. 5 .62
control group and experimental group with respect lectures and those for the experimental groups.
to the mean scale scores of the questionnaire. The The observer made field notes, which were trans-
results showed that, for course I, both groups had lated into an observational table in which all the
similar teaching expectations, as the differences didactic events taking place were recorded each
between the control group and the experimental minute. In this way, the observation instrument
group were not significant. For the second course, was a combination of both time and event
however, significant differences were found. sampling. The same instrument had already been
Students in the control group had significantly used in a previous case study conducted by the
less preference for activating instruction (t 7.11, authors [26], and it had proved to be sufficiently
df 300, p < .01), more preference for traditional reliable (Cohen's .72).
lecturing (t 9.31, df 307, p < .01) and more The observational instrument discerns five
preference for orientation on subject matter categories. The first category, `explaining subject
(t 5.25, df 308, p < .01). matter', concerns all those situations in which
From these results, it can be concluded that the lecturers explain theory or provide sample assign-
two groups of course II were not similar in terms of ments on the blackboard or overhead projector.
prior knowledge and teaching conceptions. This The second category, `activation by lecturer', are
implies that tests for the effects of activating those instances in which the lecturer tries to elicit
instruction should statistically correct for the the active participation of students by means of
observed differences, using analysis of covariance. questions, discussion or classroom assignments.
The third category, `activation by students',
concerns student-initiated interaction, such as
INSTRUMENTS questions or comments. `Stimulation of self
study' is the fourth category, which refers to the
To measure the effect of interactive lecturing, advice given by lecturers concerning the indepen-
the following instruments were used in this study: dent study of lecture material. Finally, periods of
an observation instrument, a student questionnaire silence, as well as other situations not related to the
and a questionnaire on student self study. These subject matter, were grouped in the category
instruments will be described in the following `other'.
section. Finally, student results in the mechanics
exams of the courses were used as a measure of Questionnaire
their learning results. For each course, the lecturer In the final lecture of the course, students
designed the exams for the control group and the completed a questionnaire in which the lectures
experimental group. Both lecturers indicated that were evaluated. The response in the control groups
the exams for the control group and the experi- was 44% and 47% respectively for courses I and II.
mental group were similar. For the experimental groups, the response was
43% and 38% respectively. The questionnaire
Observation instrument contained questions concerning the lecturer and
All lectures were observed by an observer, in questions concerning the students. The students
order to verify whether `objective' differences rated the lecturer on the following aspects: stimu-
could be discerned between the control group lating student involvement, stimulating self study,
Quality of the lecture The lecturer explains the subject matter clearly. 5 .63
Positive atmosphere The lecturer shows interest in the students. 6 .71
Stimulating student involvement The lecturer stimulates us to ask questions. 8 .79
Stimulating student self study The lecturer gives advice on how to study something. 8 .62
Motivation for the lectures The lectures are interesting. 4 .84
Quality of study behaviour When I study, I try to relate new knowledge to 5 .62
material I already know.
Course I
Control group 67% 10% 8% 7% 8%
Experimental group 58% 23% 8% 5% 6%
Course II
Control group 71% 4% 8% 7% 10%
Experimental group 59% 27% 4% 4% 7%
creating an interactive atmosphere and the quality facilitated at the cost of obtaining less information.
of the lecture. In prior case study research, the two Instead of detailed accounts, students were asked
latter aspects of lecturing performance were shown to give rough estimates of time spent on study
to be necessary preconditions for activation in behaviour. In addition, students who participated
lectures [26]. The questions concerning the took part in a prize draw in which book tokens
students related to their motivation in terms of could be won. Response rates were, however,
the lectures and the study approach used. The disappointing. For the control group, the response
reliability of the questionnaire can be considered rate was 18% and 23%, respectively. For the
fairly good, with > .60 for all scales (see Fig. 2). experimental groups, response rates were 23%
In the second section of this paper, it was and 19%, respectively. These rates imply that the
described how the control group data in course results must be interpreted cautiously and can only
II were obtained from the year prior to the start of be considered as anecdotal.
this study, due to illness of the lecturer. As a result
of these practical considerations, the questionnaire
administered to the control group of course II DIFFERENCES IN LECTURING
differed slightly from the questionnaire described BEHAVIOUR BEFORE AND AFTER
above. Therefore, only those items from the TRAINING
control group questionnaire that matched those
of the questionnaire used in course I and the Comparison of the observational results before
experimental group of course II were selected. As and after training shows that, for each course,
a result, the questionnaire administered in the lecturing behaviour became increasingly more acti-
control group of course I measured the same vating after the training (see Fig. 3). The table
concepts as the questionnaire used for the other shows that, in the experimental groups in both
groups, but contained less items (n 28) and had courses, more time was devoted to activating
slightly less reliable scales (.40 < < .83). instruction that was initiated by the lecturers
themselves. The extra time used for activating
Measuring time spent on studying instruction in the experimental groups of both
Time spent by students on study activities was courses I and II was mainly at the expense of
estimated by asking the students to record weekly time devoted to explaining subject matter. Equally,
the hours spent on attending lectures as well as the the time spent on stimulating students' self study
hours spent on self study activities. Participation in decreased slightly in both courses. In addition,
the study was voluntary. Response to this method event sampling showed that both lectures used a
of data collection is known to be a problem. In greater variety of interactive instructional
order to maximise response, the procedure was activities, instead of just asking questions.
Course I Course II
Quality of lecture 3.20 (.57) 3.37 (.50) 3.11 (.85) 3.20 (.64)
Interactive atmosphere 3.30 (.54) 3.64 (.51)* 3.42 (.69) 3.36 (.53)
Activating lecturing 3.25 (.56) 3.87 (.50)** 3.03 (.59) 3.74 (.48)**
Stimulating self study 3.16 (.44) 3.28 (.44) 2.75 (.60) 2.61 (.48)*
Student results
In course II, the students of the experimental The effect of activating instruction on student
group and the control group displayed a similar learning was estimated by comparing student
study pattern. Both groups have a fairly regular results in the mechanics exams. According to the
study pattern, which is probably a result of the lecturers, the exam for the control group was
weekly tests, for it is generally accepted that equivalent to the exam for the experimental
assessment is one of the most critical influences group. Comparison of the student results in each
on student learning [27]. The total time spent by course shows a significant difference between the
students differed significantly between the groups experimental group and the control group (see
of course II, the control group spending markedly Fig. 8). In both courses, the students in the
more time on self study compared to the experimental group have higher exam results
experimental group (t 2.29, df 115, p .02). than the students in the control group. It should
However, when the study time is statistically be noted here that for course II the difference in
corrected for differences in students' teaching student results was tested using analysis of covar-
conceptions and prior knowledge, the difference iance. The students' final grade in physics in
between the control group and the experimental secondary education was used as a covariate to
group of course II is not significant (F 2.96, correct for initial differences in prior knowledge
df 1, p .09). between the two groups of course II.
The evaluative questionnaire distributed in the From Fig. 8 it can be concluded that, for both
final lecture also contained a scale to assess the courses, activating instruction seems to improve
quality of the students' self study. The items of this students' learning results. The significant differ-
scale reflect the well-known distinction between ence in student results in course II is particularly
the two levels of processing: deep and surface notable. Course II students in the experimental
learning [28]. Surface learning implies taking infor- group spent markedly less total time on self study
mation literally, and not looking for the meaning activities compared to the control group of course
behind the text, whereas looking for the meaning II. Despite this, they still had significantly higher
of the text is the departure point of deep learning. exam results.
The students' mean scale score was used as an
indicator of the quality of their study behaviour.
Mean scale scores could range between 1 and 5, CONCLUSION
with high scores being indicative of a deep
approach to learning and low scores being This paper reports the results of a study into the
indicative of a surface approach. effect of activating instruction in lectures on
Fig. 8. Time spent on self study activities (mean time of students in hours per week).
282 L. Van Dijk and W. Jochems
student motivation, student study behaviour and course, as used in the study presented here, may
student learning from a course. From the results, it have been too short to adequately study the
can be concluded that a change from the tradi- effects of activating instruction on students'
tional teaching approach in lectures towards a study behaviour.
more interactive approach can be considered Despite the absence of any effect of activating
beneficial to the students. instruction on student self study, the study indi-
With respect to student motivation, the study cated that student results improve when students
showed that, in engineering education too, acti- are more involved in lectures. It can, therefore, be
vating instruction increases student motivation for concluded that students benefit more from lectures
the lectures. This result coincides with the results they attend when they are actively involved in the
of other studies into the motivational effect of learning material during the lectures. Lecturers'
activating instruction in lectures, which found concerns that activating instruction would
that students clearly appreciate activating instruc- result in a disimprovement in student results is
tion [1, 29]. Students' preference for activating contradicted by the results of this study.
teaching methods has been explained by Ramsden From a constructivist perspective on learning,
[27]. Ramsden points out that, in research on the higher student results in the activating lectures
student ratings and perceptions of favourable are not surprising. In traditional lectures, typically
environments, the significance of independence consisting of a monologue delivered by the
and choice on the part of students repeatedly lecturer, students are predominantly concerned
emerges. Teaching methods that necessitate with knowledge acquisition. Often the pace of the
student activity, problem-solving and cooperative lecture makes it difficult for students to do more
learning permit a degree of student control over than just listen and take notes. Comprehension of
learning and can thus accommodate individual the subject matter (really understanding it and
differences in their preferred ways of reaching knowing how to apply it) requires, however,
understanding. greater depth of processing by the students. It is
With respect to student self study, no effect of exactly this kind of information processing that is
interactive instruction was found. Students' study stimulated by activating instruction [4]. The results
behaviour in the control group that attended of this study, therefore, empirically confirm the
traditional lectures was similar to that of the assumption that students who are activated in
students attending activating lectures. This result lectures will learn more from these lectures and,
does not confirm the results reported in the litera- consequently, will have higher learning results
ture [8±9], but can be explained by the results of a compared to students attending traditional
longitudinal study by Vermetten et al. [7]. In that lectures.
particular study, students' learning strategies were Student learning is closely tied to motivation:
assessed in the first two years of their studies. The students will learn what they want to learn and will
results showed that learning strategies are suscep- have great difficulty in learning material in which
tible to changes in the learning context, but also they are not interested [33]. The fact that, in both
display an individual consistency. Various studies courses, activating instruction increased students'
in higher education have shown that students interest may, therefore, have contributed to the
appreciate instruction that fits their own learning positive influence of activating instruction on
habits [30±31] and are not inclined to change their student learning. It should, however, be mentioned
habitual patterns. that, in this study, the positive influence of
Powerful and profound educational reforms students' increased motivation seems to be limited
may, however, create `constructive friction' to the lecture hall and does not yet extend to
between teaching and learning [32], inducing student self study.
students to develop more advanced learning stra- A final comment with respect to activating
tegies. Constructive friction can be regarded as a instruction in lectures pertains to staff develop-
transitional phase in the learning patterns of ment initiatives. This study has shown that chan-
students in which the students become accustomed ging a traditional teaching approach in lectures
to a new way of teaching and develop more towards a more interactive approach is not simply
advanced learning conceptions and learning a utopian ideal but, instead, that it is possible. The
patterns. In this transitional phase, the effects of two lecturers involved in this study had an engin-
activating instruction on students' study behaviour eering background and no particular teaching
may not be immediately apparent but will emerge qualifications. In this respect, the two lecturers
after a while, when students have grown accus- involved are representative of most lecturers at
tomed to the instructional approach used. Indeed, their university, where it is not compulsory to
Vermetten et al. found that changing from one possess teaching qualifications in order to teach
type of education to another resulted in more at an academic level. In addition, the lectures of
diffuse patterns of learning orientations, learning courses I and II before the training can be consid-
conceptions and learning strategies of students ered characteristic of an average lecture at the
after the first semester compared to the patterns university studied, where lecturers tend to concen-
after the third semester [7]. This suggests that it trate on covering the course content and only
may be possible that a time span of only one occasionally pose questions or allow students to
Changing a Traditional Lecturing Approach into an Interactive Approach 283
ask questions [12]. In sumary, the two lecturers groups in the study by Piccinin et al. showed
involved in this study can be considered typical of significant teaching improvement. Even brief
the average lecturer at their university and had no consultation (i.e. one interview in which the
characteristics indicating that they are more consultant engages in discussion with the professor
susceptible to professional development. concerning topic[s] that the latter wishes to raise)
The professional development of the lecturers resulted in statistically significant teaching
involved in this study was stimulated using an improvement. This result points to the appropri-
individual consultation process for both lecturers. ateness of using different intervention approaches
Various studies show that individual consultation to meet the individual needs of the consultee.
can have powerful and long-lasting effects on the A final point we would like to raise here pertains
teaching performance of the consultees [34]. The to the support of the professional development of
study presented here showed that adapting one's lecturers. In this study, the two lecturers received
teaching approach to a more interactive format is individual consultation that was supported by an
feasible. It should be noted here that the two external educational expert. Professional develop-
lecturers received a fairly intensive form of con- ment does not, however, always require such
sultation. This does not imply, however, that formal support. More informal support and feed-
adapting one's teaching approach necessarily back from colleagues (e.g. peer coaching, [electro-
requires an intensive intervention. nic] discussion groups on teaching, senior teachers
In a study by Piccinin et al., the intensity of the mentoring junior teachers) can also be considered
consultation intervention differed according to the a fruitful and powerful means of supporting
pre-consultation student ratings of the teachers; professional development [35]. Quality improve-
the group with the lower mean student ratings ment in education requires continuous reflection
receiving the most intensive consultation and the by teachers about what they do and why they do it.
group with the highest ratings receiving the least AcknowledgementÐDr. Gerard C. van den Berg is gratefully
intensive intervention [34]. Although the intensity acknowledged for his support and his contribution to the study
of the consultation differed between the groups, all described in this paper.
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