Faculty of Education Competitive Grants

Project Title: Optimising large-scale lecture presentations in Engineering

Chief Investigator: Professor David Clarke

Funded by: 2008 Melbourne Graduate School of Education Competitive Grant

Project Summary: Large lectures are well-established and widely used at tertiary level. Engineering offers unique challenges and opportunities for the enhancement of the standard lecturing delivery. In this study, a multi-camera research design will investigate the use of four specific instructional elements, employed in a sequence of large-scale engineering lectures. The elements: physical demonstration, illustrative video, powerpoint presentation, and remote experimentation will be variously combined in a lecturing sequence. Video data will be supplemented with student questionnaires and interviews with the lecturer and selected students to establish the connection between intention, implementation and outcome. The findings should inform practice university-wide.