chunking
Being able to break material into smaller pieces makes it easier to assess student knowledge.
Kelly,
From a students perspective, it makes perfect sense and even desirable to deliver course content in chunks, segments, or smaller, bite size pieces. Although I would like to think that students are like machines that teachers can just continuously feed information in and retention and recall will result, the reality is "that just ain't so". Individuals can only take in so much at one time. They may be there physically, but too much information leads to overload. Keeping whatever we give interesting and using a variety of methods to get the point across does the most to students remaining focused and attentive.
Barry Westling
I've been told it's because of the MTV generation. Whatever the reason, I have to agree - break up your presentations, mix up your delivery - do anything and everything to get your point across. Especially in the larger classes, you are more likely to have all kinds of learners in those rooms.
George,
More than a generational thing, I think it's a human experience thing. Studies show that short bursts of instruction with varied change-ups in delivery every 20 minutes keeps interest. It's a challenge to be creative to do this all the time for every class. But the more frequently we can "chunk" better retention and focus will probably result.
Barry Westling
Mixing it up seems to help when the topic slightly dry. I found that mixing it up helps a lot.
Henry,
Yup. Variety helps keep distracted minds on task, focused and at attention.
Barry Westling
I have found that making units out of the course it gives me the ability to stop the class at more "spots of convenience" and allows me to pick up where I left off in a organized way.
Guy,
Sure. Ithink every topic can be thought of as segments of a whole. Finding these segments allows for interruptions, or for when we need to do a "change-up", that is, an activity that is different (perhaps same topic) but the presentation and delivery is different to keep student engaged.
Barry Westling
