A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Enhancing academic and Practice

Lecturing to large groups
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and drink, medical, biomedical, roving/exploratory) applications. In doing this,
students were made aware from the outset of the possibilities to use robotics in
varied industrial contexts.
For future weeks, the students were organised into groups of five to eight. Each
group was given a different scenario, with a company profile and a problem that
the company sought to address by using robotics (e.g. skilled labour shortage,
load handling issues, materials wastage rates). The format of the remaining
lectures followed a similar pattern; I presented lecture material in the first hour
to cover some theoretical aspects of robotics, and in the second hour the students
(in their groups) worked on the application of the theory I had just presented to
the scenario on which they were working. In some weeks, the students used their
‘slot’ to present their developing ideas to the rest of the class. This was particularly
useful in helping me to identify and expand upon important learning points for
the whole class as I explored the strengths and weaknesses of their ideas. The
students readily appreciated the opportunity for ‘free-thinking’ on a potential
robotics applications problem, addressing any necessary assumptions. This
approach was far more effective than simply lecturing to the students, as I was
able to interweave the robotics theory with the information that different groups
had explored in their investigations.
This mix of input from me and activity by the students was well received, student
feedback was extremely positive, and the quality of their assessed work showed
that they had achieved the overall aim of understanding robotics theory when put
into context.
(Dr Simon Steiner, Engineering Subject Centre,
formerly Senior Lecturer, University of Birmingham)
MANAGING DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOUR
The commonest causes of disruption by students in lectures seem to be upheaval caused
by late arrivals, students talking to each other, or use of mobile phones (even though
there will be a departmental policy on this). It is not usual for any of these behaviours to
be extreme, but it can be annoying for those students who are trying to listen and learn.
Sometimes student peer pressure will intervene to bring a halt to the disruption, but if
this does not work then the lecturer will need to manage the situation. There are
significant numbers of books on the causes and management of poor behaviour in schools
and further education colleges, but much of the material is not relevant to higher
education because we do not see the extremes of behaviour prevalent in other areas of
education. The starting point for dealing with disruptive behaviour is to set out
expectations or ground rules in the first lecture. These should be based on departmental
rules or established custom and practice.