Key Teaching Principle # 8: Pace of Teaching

As covered in the first article in this series, Principles of Effective Teaching, reliability engineers, FMEA team leaders, and other quality and reliability professionals are often called upon to teach the principles of reliability or FMEA. Whether you are a student who wants to enhance your learning experience, an instructor who wants to improve teaching results, or an engineer who wishes to convey knowledge to another person, this series will offer practical knowledge and advice.

Manage pace of teaching to optimize learning

“The way we spend our time defines who we are.”  Jonathan Estrin

What is “Pace of Teaching”?

“Pace” is defined as “rate of performance or delivery.” Pace of teaching is the rate that you deliver the course material to students.

Have you ever been in a class that does not manage time well? Some instructors speak too slowly and bore their students. Some speak too fast and students have trouble keeping up. Some allow endless topics that consume valuable time. The pace of teaching is a key factor in the transfer of knowledge.

What factors influence the optimum rate of teaching?

Instructors that teach too slowly or too fast risk not conveying the course material to the students. There is no perfect rate (slides per minute) for all students or in all circumstances.

Here are a few of the elements that influence the optimum pace of teaching.

• Skill and ability of the teacher to convey material
• Capability of the students to grasp concepts
• Degree of complexity of the course material
• Level of student-teacher interactivity
• Individual student language comprehension

The instructor should keep the class moving efficiently through the course material at as close to an optimum teaching pace as possible, without skimping on fundamentals. By “optimum teaching pace,” I mean the pace of teaching that is not too slow or too fast, that reaches the majority of students with the best possible learning comprehension.

Preparation

I use the following steps for each and every course that I teach.

1. Before the course starts, I practice teach each slide or page as if actually teaching it to a full classroom, and record the amount of time for each slide or page.
2. I include time entries for exercises, questions, and breaks, and add up the total time to see how it fits with planning.
3. If the total time exceeds planned course time, I remove content or extend the course time to fit the total available time.
4. Above all, I do not try to fit too much content into too little time, and do not cut out exercises or time for questions. I would rather teach less content really well than teach too much content for the allotted time.
5. Once I have an analysis of the time for each course slide, including time for questions, exercises and breaks, I print out a summary sheet so I can compare progress in real teaching time.
6. Lastly, I practice teaching the course material until I am very comfortable with the content and pace.

How much course time should be allocated for the instructor to present course material to students, compared to how much time should be allocated for student exercises and questions? My guideline is 40/60: 40% of total course time is the instructor presenting course material to students, and 60% of total course time is allocated for student exercises and questions.

I do these exact preparation steps for every new course, or course modification. It is an essential process and should not be missed.

Three pacing mistakes

Pace of course too slow

Result: students lose interest, and their minds wander to other things.

If you teach too slowly, students will tend to be distracted or have difficulty paying attention. You should pick up the pace of your delivery. You have to keep the attention of students. You should talk less, increase student interaction and focus on key principles.

Pace of course too fast

Result: students are not able to grasp key concepts.

Instructors who teach too fast will overwhelm most students with too much information. Most courses build on the knowledge from one concept to the next. If students do not grasp a concept, they will have trouble with the next concept. You need to slow down and ensure students are getting each concept you teach.

Instructor rushes to finish course

Result: the pace of course is too fast for the portion of the class material that is rushed. This has the same result as “pace of course too fast.”

Tip: Ask for periodic feedback from students, to see if you are teaching at the right pace.

What to do if you are running long?

When teaching, if you find yourself running behind schedule, you can consider strategies to catch up, such as the following: start course earlier, extend course hours, shorten lunch break, or remove non-essential modules. Do not talk faster, reduce time for questions and answers, or in any way jeopardize transfer of knowledge of fundamentals.

Fundamentals

Always take as much time as needed to ensure students understand fundamentals. If you need to remove content, do not remove anything that is needed to teach fundamental principles.

Unique circumstances

The following are a few unique circumstances when adjusting and optimizing your pace of teaching.

1. Learning variation. Every class has variation in student learning capabilities. Your object time should be  to reach most of your students. If you have one or two very slow learners, you may need to meet with them during lunch or after class to ensure comprehension.
2. Special topics. In order to avoid spending class time on special topics that only a few of the students want to explore, you can present or discuss the special topic outside of class time.
3. Parking lot. When a student brings up an off-topic issue or takes a long time to discuss their topic, you can use a Parking Lot strategy. Keep a list of topics that are not part of the course agenda on this list, and find a time outside of course time to take them up. This way, valuable course time is not diluted.

Student questions

As covered in my article “Key Teaching Principle # 4: Questioning,” in addition to always answering student questions, the instructor should frequently ask questions of students. Challenging students to respond to thought-provoking questions is an important part of the learning process.

Summary

Maintaining the right pace of teaching, not too fast or too slow, can enhance learning and help ensure each student understands the concepts and principles of the course.