LECTURING IN THE PRECLINICAL CURRICULUM
A GUIDE FOR FACULTY LECTURERS AT THE
ALPERT MEDICAL SCHOOL OF BROWN UNIVERSITY
”Some people talk in their sleep. Lecturers talk while other people
sleep.” Albert Camus
“My lecture was a complete success, but the audience was a failure.”
Anonymous
Sloman, John and Mitchell, Chris (2002). The Handbook for
Economic Lecturers
(http://www.economics.ltsn.ac.uk/handbook/lectures)
Overview
Lectures make up the primary form of teaching in the preclinical
curriculum at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
Students experience hundreds of lectures during their first two years
of medical school. And while lectures can be an efficient method of
conveying vast amounts of information to a large group of students,
high quality lectures are not easy to design or to deliver. We
recognize that most of our faculty lecturers struggle to make their
presentations comprehensive and engaging in the face of limited time
and seemingly limitless content. This guide is meant to provide some
useful tips as you create, modify and refine your medical school
lectures.
From Teaching to Learning
Lectures can be an effective and efficient method to:
 Provide an organizational framework for complex biomedical
concepts
 Highlight major ideas
 Set the stage for further learning
 Arouse student interest in a topic
However, as we think about designing high quality lectures we need
to move away from a focus on teaching, and move towards a focus on
learning. When we focus too much on the act of teaching, we tend to
pay most attention to our own actions, and to “covering” all of the
necessary material. “Covering” material too often involves shoveling
as much content as possible into a single lecture. The number of
power point slides for a single lecture becomes large, and the time
afforded to each individual slide becomes shorter and shorter.
Lost in this process is a focus on student comprehension. We can
cover all the material we want, but it won’t matter if students don’t
understand what is being presented. Lectures are only effective if the
end result is learning.
Focus on teaching“Covering” the
material
Focus on learningMaximizing student
understanding
A shift in focus from teaching to learning keeps in mind the essential
outcome- student comprehension. And when student comprehension
becomes our goal, we can structure our lectures to maximize their
learning within the time allotted.
Maximizing Learning in the Time Allotted
There are several ways to maximize the amount of information that
students can absorb within a given timeframe. One way is to reduce
wasted lecture time. Another is to be sure that your lecture is
structured in such a way that students find it easy to follow your
thinking.
1. Understand the context of your lecture: Understanding your audience
and what your learners already know will cut down on wasted
time.
 Communicate with your Course Director regarding what
information has already been presented, or will be presented in
future lectures. The more you know about the learning
objectives for your specific talk, the more targeted you can be
when designing your lecture.
 Additionally, ask questions about your learners to better
understand their comprehension level. This will prevent you
from spending precious time presenting information at an
inappropriately simplistic, or inappropriately sophisticated,
level.
TIP: Limit the number of
your power point slides.
For a 50 minute lecture
on complex biomedical
material, the number of
slides should probably
not exceed 30.
Reduce Time Spent On:
 Unnecessary repetition of material
 Content presented at an
inappropriate level
2. Make your presentation as visually accessible as possible: Making your
presentation as accessible to students as possible will allow
students to fully concentrate on the content being presented. There
are many practical ways that you can make your presentation
visually accessible.
 Use at least an 18 point font.
 Use a standard font like Arial or Times New Roman.
 Use a text color with a high contrast to your background
color such as a white background with blue text, or a blue
background with white or yellow text.
 Use a simple background without a lot of patterns.
 Title each slide.
 Include “orientation” slides that let students know where
they are in the lecture content.
 Write in point form, not complete sentences.
 Limit yourself to 4-5 points per slide.
TIP: Remember that your
slides may be printed out
and distributed to
students. Fonts and
images should be large
enough to read in printed
form. Slide backgrounds
should not be visually
distracting.
(www.iasted.org/conferences/formatting/Presentations-Tips.ppt)
The addition of images to your presentation can increase student
understanding of the material presented. However, these images
should also be as visually accessible to students as possible.
 Make images as large as possible- fit them to the space
allotted.
 Images, graphs and tables should be clearly visible from the
back of the room.
 Label each image.
 Do not use complex tables- simplify the material presented
or highlight the important information.
TIP: Help is available for
dealing with images in
your presentation!
Contact
Luba_Dumenco@brown.
edu for assistance with
sizing, importing, etc.
Reduce Time Spent On:
 Unnecessary repetition of
material
 Content presented at an
inappropriate level
 Interpreting poorly
constructed slides
3. Increase student engagement through greater participation: Increasing
student participation in your lecture will help then engage with the
material. Students become active, rather than passive, learners.
While some of the strategies below may seem to “waste” valuable
time that could be spent delivering lecture content, remember that
our goal is not to “cover” material but to maximize student
learning. By increasing students’ engagement with the material
you eliminate time that is actually wasted on student daydreaming,
or on unnecessary reviewing of material later!
 Begin the lecture with a question or problem.
 Invite students to ask questions or challenge your ideas.
 When showing an image, ask students what they see before
providing an explanation yourself.
 Check student understanding with a quick multiple-choice
question (have students vote on the answer) or survey of the
group.
 Include real-life examples and cases to illustrate the ideas
being presented.
 Ask several students to provide brief summaries of the
major ideas covered in the lecture.
 Allow time at the end for discussion and questions.
(Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning:
http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/html/icb.topic58474/TFTlectures.html)
TIP: If students are busy
reading a long slide, they
are not able to listen
carefully to what you are
saying, or to participate
in the discussion. Put the
basic ideas on the slide,
and then elaborate on
these ideas in your
presentation.
Other strategies for delivering an engaging lecture include:
 Move around the physical space rather than stand in one
place.
 Make sure the students in the back of the room can hear
you- use the microphone if necessary.
 Ask a trusted colleague to observe your lecture and provide
you with feedback on your teaching.
Reduce Time Spent On:
 Unnecessary repetition of
material
 Content presented at an
inappropriate level
 Interpreting poorly constructed
slides
 Passive learning or
daydreaming
We greatly appreciate your contributions to the education of our
medical students. Please know that you are playing an important role
in their development as future physicians.
Thank you!
Written by Emily Green, MA
©2008 Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Contact the Office of Curriculum Affairs for more information: (401) 863-9139