Treating adults as teens and children

Anyone who has gone to university has likely sat through some really bad lectures. Dense slides. Too much content. Hour or more of the lecturer talking, with no interaction. Poor structure. Teaching at a level beyond the audience.

Norman Eng has put his many years of experience teaching into this books, giving great guidance as to how to improve lectures and teaching in general, and to avoid giving the bad lectures. Eng shows studies that prove that much of what if taught in long lectures is lost – with attention spans disappearing after 20 minutes at most. He then presents ways to avoid this.

While simplify the content of the book down really doesn’t do it justice, the book can be boiled down to (it you really had to) two main concepts: “know your audience” and “teach like you would for K-12 students”. For kids and teens teaching is interactive, engaging, varied and usually done in short bursts broken up by activities. And yet once you are out of university we are suddenly expecting students (who might only be 1 year different to a high school kid) to sit through and hour plus of talking and pick up everything that is said. The “knowing your audience” is about pitching it to their level, explaining it in ways that are relevant and making sure that the students are engaged rather than seeing it as abstract concepts.

While I am not a university lecturer, I have done some lecturing previously and regularly do presentations at work. And the content of this book is useful there, beyond the scope of just “teaching college”.

The book also has an “about the author” right up front, explaining his history and experience. I really appreciated this as it told me where Engwas coming from and why what he taught in the book would be trustworthy.

The narration by Joseph Brookhouse is good. Clear, crisp, well-paced. He does a good work covering the topics and conveying the information within. No glaring issues at all with the narration or audio production.

The book also gives you access to a lot of additional supporting materials as Eng's website: normaneng.org/audiobook-resources

10 people found this helpful

Very practical and helpful

I've been a college professor at the university level for 16 years, and am always looking for resources to improve my teaching, better reach my students, and help them retain material in creative, practical ways. This book was very helpful for all those reasons, and more. I plan to go through the audio book multiple times and make a list of the many suggested teaching techniques Eng covers.

2 people found this helpful

Good advice for post-secondary educators

Any additional comments?

This book was a great reminder of perspectives, tips, and strategies for teaching at the post-secondary level. Most of the ideas in the book are consistent with what I learned as a B.Ed. student (class of 2007), and with the professional development resources/training at the post-secondary institution where I currently teach full-time. Although I'm generally familiar with the material, I definitely believe that it was worthwhile to review the ideas in the book and reflect on ways that I could improve my teaching. The audio narration was well done and I truly appreciate it when audiobook authors provide links to resources! (I'd be in heaven if I could get digital access to illustrations from print copies of my audiobooks, via password protected web pages...)

Based on my own experiences as a post-secondary educator, I would suggest that you shouldn't feel like you need to follow all of the tips in this book (there are so many good ideas, it would be overwhelming to try to adopt all of them at once). However, if you follow at least some of them you will become a better educator. Even minor changes can result in major improvements (from a student engagement perspective). If you're as engaged with the students as you want them to be engaged with you, then you'll be able to detect what works and what doesn't work when you teach. Don't expect perfection right away, adopt a continuous improvement approach to your lessons, and enjoy the high that you feel at the end of a really effective class (it helps offset those days when students don't seem to find any of your jokes funny!).

Anyway, this book was an enjoyable read. Even if the material is familiar to some readers, it's never a bad idea to think about one's philosophy of teaching and consider how that philosophy translates into practice.

I provided my opinion in exchange for a complimentary copy of the audiobook from the author, narrator, or publisher.

2 people found this helpful

Outstanding. Filled with practical tips

This book should be required reading for all new college teachers. Norman Eng answered many of the questions I have wrestled with for years. I felt that the only way I could improve my teaching was to get a degree in education. Although I'm sure that would improve my craft, listening to this book and impementing the suggestions is much easier and less time consuming. Thank you for writing this book!

1 person found this helpful

Excellent for ALL teachers!

For a relatively short audiobook, this book is EXTREMELY useful. There is a strong encouragement towards fragmented and variable class time usages so as to keep attention and use of the Socratic method style. There are many examples of HOW to implement the techniques, evaluate and receive feedback. If you teach, at all, LISTEN TO THIS. It is worth every minute. The 'what', 'why', 'how' and even 'when' are all included!

I have repeatedly observed, in grad school, graduate students thrown into TAing courses alone without much advisement (myself included) and new professors flounder while trying to experiment with teaching for the first time. In college, many teachers are Not given any advise as to how to teach. This will alleviate the common problems of the classroom quickly and provide understanding on all fronts!

1 person found this helpful

It will take me DAYS

Absolutely critical importance & wonderfully creative ways to take charge & have fun in the classroom! it will take me DAYS, maybe even months to implement all the wonderful thoughts this book has shared! links to cisit as a follow up...ya, a definate read for anyone teaching!!

useless if you want to teach online

as the author himself admits this book is useless for teaching online courses. also, after being around k-12, the advice to teach college the same way as k-12 is hard to follow.

a little dated but good.

Thuis really helped me refine lectures and consider how to improve my active learning in class for my grad courses. A good survey and step by step guide.

Great Resource!

I teach professional development, and this book has greatly changed my teaching style. This book helps me make teaching more fun and impactful for my students.

Teaching College

I am scheduled to start teaching my first semester at a local community college in the fall. Your book has given me a clear understanding of what to expect and proven strategies to use in the classroom setting. I really enjoyed your book, and I look forward to visiting your website! Excellent book for new and experienced teachers!!!