Background: The lecture is the most widely used method of teaching in medic
al education. Although effective lecturing has been described in the litera
ture, many question whether problem-solving skills or attitudes can be tran
smitted using the traditional lecture. Introducing interactive techniques c
an promote learner participation and, as a result, can lead to a higher lev
el of learning. This article assesses the effectiveness of interactive lear
ning.
Description: A 4-hr workshop has been offered for 4 consecutive years to fa
culty members in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University to allow part
icipants to explore interactive techniques and incorporate them into their
lectures. For this study, an evaluation was conducted of the workshop given
in Spring 1996 The experimental group consisted of the first 60 faculty me
mbers to register for the workshop, and the comparison group comprised the
40 individuals on the waiting list. Three instruments were used in the eval
uation. An immediate postworkshop questionnaire was completed by the partic
ipants. Six months after the session, a 6-month postworkshop questionnaire
was completed by the experimental and comparison groups that explored the u
se of interactive lecturing techniques since the workshop. In addition, 23
individuals from the experimental group and 14 fr om the comparison group w
ere videotaped 6 months after the session and were scored on a videotape ob
servational grid by an independent rater
Evaluation: Overall, the workshop was deemed very useful by the majority of
the participants. On the 6-month postworkshop questionnaire, the only diff
erence found in the demographic data between the 2 groups was in the number
of years of teaching experience. The experimental group had given more int
eractive lectures over the past 6 months and had used more audience respons
es, certain types of questions, audience surveys, live interviews, verbal a
nd written cases, and study guides. From the videotape observational data,
the experimental group scored higher in questioning and engaging the audien
ce, and in using nonverbal gestures. As well, this group received higher ra
tings for their interactivity and for the students' responsiveness.
Conclusions: Interactive lectures can increase student participation and in
volvement in the large class lecture. This 4-hr workshop, designed to promo
te the use of interactive lecturing techniques, can be considered successfu
l based on self-reports from participants as well as from observational dat
a. Copyright (C) 2001 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.