Giving a university lecture as a professor is no easy task. It takes time and practice to prepare for a lecture, whether you have 10 students or 100 students.
Pick a format
First, you want to make sure you’re picking a format that makes you comfortable. Everyone is different so what works for someone else may or may not work for you.
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My favorite way to lecture is to create an interactive PowerPoint presentation (and it works for Zoom lectures too since you can share it on your screen with your class). This way I can keep track of all of the information I need to teach. And I also have it in a presentable format for my class. The word interactive is key too.
engage with your audience
By interactive, I mean ways to make the presentation more than just bullet points and text. I always try to include slides in my presentation that are visual (whether they be images, videos and sometimes even GIFs) as well as slides that involve participation. Participation can mean asking people to contribute directly to the lecture. Or it can mean breaking up the students into smaller groups to work on a short project together.
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As you outline your lecture – in whatever format works for you – try to include anecdotes. Delivering information that hooks your students can help engage them and hold their attention.
outline your goals
I always build each of my lectures off my syllabus. You should have your semester planned out in terms of lessons and in each lesson, you will have material you need to teach. I am fortunate to have worked with some amazing professors who passed along helpful outlines and information.
So if you aren’t sure where to start, ask yourself two things: What is my goal (as in what do you need to teach) and who else may have advice I can connect with to make sure I’m covering what I need to cover.
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I’m sure there’s a million more helpful tips out there on how to prepare for a lecture, but hopefully this will help get you started!
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