Using the data projector in lectures

For more information contact: Toby Hall.

There are many ways of using a data projector to enhance lectures: the most important thing is to ensure that material presented on the projector complements rather than duplicates what is done on the board.

One simple approach is to use the projector to display the relevant theory/methods when going through an example on the board, or the necessary earlier results used in a proof which is done on the board. Of course this can equally well be done using an OHP. Unfortunately the arrangement of the blackboards and projector screen in many lecture rooms makes it impossible to use both simultaneously, but this approach is certainly possible in 027 and 029 (in 029, about 2/3 of the projector screen can be used without obscuring any of the blackboard).

This page gives brief details of a way of using the data projector much more intensively, which Toby Hall uses in all of his lectures.

The main principles are:

• All theory, motivation, definitions, etc. are presented on the data projector, while (almost) all examples and proofs are done on the blackboard.
• The students are given printed notes which cover all of the material presented on the projector, so that they don't need to write detailed notes in this part of the lectures.
• The students are never given handouts covering the examples and proofs, so that this material passes through their brains on its way into their notes - and they need to attend lectures to get it.
• The printed notes contain statements of theorems and lists of examples to be treated: each has a "dagger number" next to it in the printed notes, which students can cross-reference with their written notes.

While preparing the notes and slides requires a lot of work in the first year the module is delivered, this method makes teaching a much more relaxed process in later years, and has proved popular with students. It also makes it possible to cover a larger syllabus than is possible when everything goes on the board, seemingly without students noticing.

Here are the slides used for one lecture (type CTRL-L after opening them in Acrobat Reader to view full screen), and the accompanying notes. (The slides are produced using an ancient package called ppower4, and could certainly be done better with Beamer.) Notice that:

• Each screen of the slides (after the introductory ones) has the relevant page number(s) in the notes at the top, to help students keep track of where they are.
• There are three proofs done on the board in this lecture, daggers 3, 4, and 5 respectively. For each of them there is a slide containing a summary of what has to be proved.