Part 2: Core teaching and learning

When constructing your session plan, consider the following tips:

• Prepare your short talks in advance. Assuming you have allocated 90 minutes of a two-hour session to the core teaching, make sure you have broken this time down into three or four subsections from the core module content. During your talks, encourage students to ask you questions if they do not understand something. This will help them to remain engaged.
• Break up the talks with activities. Try to ensure students do something different every 15–20 minutes to keep their attention focused on the topic. Avoid a long lecture or a group activity that takes a long time as this will make students feel bored.
• Use the group versions of the in-text activities, as provided in Appendix 2 of this Handbook. Adapt the activities according to your needs, your group size and the content that you want to emphasise. Use plenary discussions – bringing the whole group back together – to help students share and reflect on their learning.
• You don’t have to fit everything into the suggested two-hour session. Students can be instructed to complete homework, either beforehand to bring to the session or afterwards.