How do I activate students during the live contact?

Live Interactive Lecture

Live interactive lectures are the activating variant of the classic lecture. Options to make your lecture activating are for example:

• Incorporate multiple choice questions in the powerpoint by means of Sendsteps, Zoom Polls or Mentimeter
• Activate at the beginning of the lecture by a word cloud or Zoom annotate
• Discuss the parts that proved to be difficult from literature, subject-related content, discussion board and Canvas quiz
• Demonstrate quantitative methods (e.g. Explain Everything)

Learn more about interactive lectures

Best Practices

We don’t have a best practice for live interactive lectures yet. Do you have a good tip for your colleagues? Let us know via tlc-eb@uva.nl.

Suggestions

• Combine a live interactive lecture with input from elements that have been covered before the live moment of contact
• Combine a live interactive lecture with a test after the live moment of contact
  • Theoretical: concluding formative assessment
  • Practical: practical assignment

Feedbacklecture

Feedback lectures are meant to discuss elements of the weekly course material that students seemed to have more difficulty with and to offer more depth. In a feedback lecture you can:

• Discuss the parts that appeared to be difficult in the knowledge clips, pre-recorded lectures, literature, course-related content, discussion board and Canvas quiz
• Address remaining questions
• Allow for deeper discussions
• Practising with exam questions
• Demonstrate quantitative methods (e.g. Explain Everything)

Learn more about feedbacklectures

Best Practices

• Feedback lecturers are based on questions and answers. Invite students to ask questions about the material prior to the feedback lecture by using Discussion Board on Canvas. Use the first part of the lecture for answering these questions.
• Use the second part of the lecture for practicing multiple choice exam questions via Sendsteps and discussing the answers to activate students and create interaction.
• During a feedback lecture you can also organise a short Canvas quiz of 5 questions, which concentrates on the basic concepts. And after the students have finished the quiz, you can give feedback and discuss the questions to create an environment that allows you to have a conversation with the students about the material.
• Tell the students that they are responsible for the content of the lecture. If they have little input, offer a shorter lecture.
• Don’t stuff the lecture with content: interaction should be the priority during these sessions.

Have a look at the extensive best practice here.

– With thanks to Pushpika Vishwanathan & Karin Venetis

Suggestions

• Combine a feedbacklecture with input from elements that have been covered before the live moment of contact
• Combine a feedbacklecture with a test after the live moment of contact
  • Theoretical: concluding formative assessment
  • Practical: practical assignment

Tutorial: Exercise and Deepening

In general, tutorials can be used to ask questions of the tutorial instructor and/or to follow up on previous discussions or material from the feedback lecture.

Online tutorials

• Create small groups, this makes it easier to create interaction
• Call students by name
• Let students work together, and try to speak as little as possible (or e-mail instructions in advance).
• End with a question, this way students know they have to pay attention throughout the tutorial

On-campus tutorials

• Organise on-campus tutorials in a hybrid way, so that they are also accessible for students who are not able to come to campus.
• Give a lot of time to social and interactive parts during the on-campus tutorials, and try to have theory made known beforehand

Learn more about tutorials

Best Practices

“How to create more interaction between students:

• Have students work together in small groups or break-out rooms
• Have students work together in a shared document (Google Docs or Teams)
• Organise speed-date sessions: 2 minutes in break-out rooms to get to know each other, 5 minutes before the tutorial, 10 minutes in the coffee break, and 5-10 minutes afterwards”.

– With thanks to Fam de Poel

Suggestions

• Combine a tutorial with input from elements that have been covered before the live moment of contact
• Use unfinished discussions or remaining questions from the feedbacklecture as input for the tutorial
• Combine a tutorial with a test after the live moment of contact
  • Theoretical: concluding formative assessment
  • Practical: practical assignment

Tutorial: Gamification

Tutorials can also be used to introduce gamification. Gamification in education involves using game elements such as scoring, peer competition, teamwork and scoring tables to increase engagement, help students assimilate new information and test their knowledge. Examples include:

• Points for achieving (non-)academic objectives:
  Inspire students to see simple sets of questions or skills in a whole new light. Correct or well-structured answers work according to a point system, with students rising in the rankings.
• Create competition between students:
  Give an assignment to be done individually or in groups, and have the best results (determined by teacher or whole group) presented by one student or the group.

Learn more about gamification

Best Practices

Nick Bombaij and Joris Demmers introduced mini-challenges in their course:

• Mini-challenges are small tasks or assignments, related to the content of the week and meant to give more practical application of the theory. Create different kinds of mini-challenges (so not only case questions that students have to answer). This is highly appreciated by students.
• Create (random) break-out rooms of 5-6 students: students turn on their camera, help each other, and work on and discuss the mini-challenges together.
• As a teacher, visit the break-outs to see if there are any questions; this is very much appreciated by the students. And before you enter the break-out room, tell the students that they can also ask the teacher for help from the break-out room.
• Keep them short: they should be uploaded by the end of the tutorial session. (e.g. the last 30-45 minutes of the lesson)
• Include the mini-challenges as part of the final grade (10%). They should be easy to assess with pass/fail (i.e. the student has shown his/her participation).

– With thanks to Nick Bombaij & Joris Demmers

Have a look at the extensive best practice of Nick and Joris here

Suggestions

• Combine gamification within your tutorial with input from elements that have been covered before the live moment of contact
• Combine gamification within your tutorial with a test after the live moment of contact
  • Theoretical: concluding formative assessment
  • Practical: practical assignment

Tutorial: Debating

During tutorials, you can let students debate in order to engage them more with the materials. For example, you can use business cases to provide for a topic for the students to debate about. You could let the students form teams, to which a pro or con position is assigned, and rotate the teams that will be debating per week. Alternatively, you could hold a larger debate with the whole tutorial group, and allow all students to contribute. In order to structure the debates you can use Oxford style debating:

• A predetermined proposition – also called a “motion” – is debated from two opposing viewpoints.
• The two sides argue either “for” or “against” the motion using a formal structure

Learn more about Oxford Style Debating

Best Practices

Siri Boe-Lillegraven, Assistant Professor in Strategy, uses the Oxford Style Debating in her courses. Have a look at her best practice below:

Suggestions

• Use course content that has been covered before the live moment of contact as input for the debate
• Combine a tutorial and debating with a test after the live moment of contact
  • Theoretical: concluding formative assessment
  • Practical: practical assignment

Tutorial: Business Case

Tutorials can also be used to introduce a business case. A few practical tips:

• Decide whether you want to use a written case or a live case
• Determine which learning objectives are associated with the case and when in the course the case will have the most impact
• Put together relevant teaching materials to link theory to practice
• Choose how you will introduce students to the case method and prepare them for the case activity
• Decide which activity (traditional case class, live case class with companies, debate, role play) best fits the course and the students

Learn more about the Case-Method and the Amsterdam Living Case Lab

Best Practices

For tutorial: business case we do not have a best practice yet. Do you have a good tip for your colleagues? Let us know at tlc-eb@uva.nl.

Suggestions

• Use course content that has been covered before the live moment of contact as input for the business case
• Combine a tutorial and a business case with a test after the live moment of contact
  • Theoretical: concluding formative assessment
  • Practical: practical assignment

Computer Lab

Computer labs allow students to practice with the course materials during contact moments with teachers. As such, they provide an excellent way to let students practice while having the possibility to ask questions. This is especially useful for courses that revolve around learning certain skills for which a computer is needed, such as working in SPSS, STATA or Python.

• When students are physically present during a computer lab, the tutorial teacher can walk around the room while students work on certain assignments and be available for questions.
• In an online setting, students can work on the assignment on their own laptop, while being present via Zoom. If you want students to work together, you could also put them in breakout rooms, via which they can also “raise their hand” to ask you to come to their breakout room to answer a question.

Best Practices

Julian Rossi, Lecturer in Text Mining, teaches a course in which students learn to program within Python online. Have a look at his best practice below:

Suggestions

• Use course content that has been covered before the live moment of contact as input for the computer labs
• Combine a computer lab with a test after the live moment of contact
  • Theoretical: concluding formative assessment
  • Practical: practical assignment

Guest Lectures

Guest lectures are a great way to introduce the course content/topics as well as insight about managing a career in the form of real-life experiences. They are a way of aligning theoretical course content with practical insights from a guest speaker: a guest lecture can show students how the knowledge they have obtained can be used in practice. Guest lectures can be arranged for different situations.

• If possible, you could have the guest lecture offline and have the guest speaker physically present in the lecture hall.
• A guest lecture can also be done online via a live lecture where the guest lecture joins in on Zoom.
• In addition, a hybrid version of a guest lecture could be arranged. Here, the guest lecture could be physically present together with a part of the students, and some students join in online, or the guest lecture could join online in the hybrid form.
• Finally, it is also possible to have a guest lecture in the form of an online interview. As a teacher you could interview the guest speaker on the topic of the week, record the sessions and let the students watch it (as part of the course material) in their own time.

Best Practices

We don’t have a best practice for guest lectures yet. Do you have a good tip for your colleagues? Let us know at tlc-eb@uva.nl.

Suggestions

• Combine a guest lecture with a test based on covered content after the live moment of contact
  • Theoretical: concluding formative assessment
  • Practical: practical assignment