Tips for Effective Seminar Teaching

1. Purposes

Think clearly about what you are trying to achieve; what you want your students to have
learned from the seminar. Assuming you want to develop understanding you will need to
think about what they already know; their level of experience; degree of interest and
difficulty of the topic; the ways they learn new material and such practical issues as the
length of the seminar.

2. Preparation

It's worth remembering that students' confidence in discussion will vary according to their
experience. You might want to provide them with a brief agenda with a question or two
they might think about and/or allocate specific reading to ensure the topic is kept in focus.

3. Starting Off

Students will talk more freely if they feel safe. In a course of seminars, establishing
ground rules with students can help to do this, clarifying what's expected as well as
motivating the group and allowing them to get to know each other and you. Remembering
names is important: name badges can help in the first couple of seminars, as can pairing
students and asking them to introduce each other, asking students to state their name at
the beginning and end of the first seminar or drawing up a seating list on a flip chart.

4. Completing

Finishing off a seminar in a positive way is important. Summarizing the main points raised
can help, and leading into the next topic reinforces direction and provides momentum.
Drawing the material together in the final seminar on a course and celebrating the
achievement of the group also reinforces its sense of identity and motivation. You might
ask students the good things about the seminars and ways they might be improved, or
ask them each to list one key thing they learned.

5. Seating

What works with one set of students might not work with another, but in general how the
seating is arranged can markedly influence the atmosphere and make the difference
between a relaxed and tense seminar. This might be difficult to change, but an
arrangement where you are part of the group rather than separate from it is generally
most effective.

6. Methods

Variety is important here, as it sustains interest and allows a group of students to get to
know each other. Buzz groups, brainstorming and pyramiding are classic means of
encouraging participation. Giving students thinking time before discussing difficult issues
is also a useful technique.
7. Managing group work

This involves many skills of listening, questioning, responding and explaining. Crucial to
these is leadership. Here important things to remember are flexibility and focus. It is
important to keep to the focus of the topic, but if the group wants to discuss something
relevant but which you have not prepared try to fit it in and take something else out.
Sparking off ideas is usually appreciated but dominating the discussion is not. Try hard
not to fall back onto the position of expert, authority and prime talker. It's useful here to
think about the research on what students don't like. Pre-eminent here are being made to
contribute when you don't want to; being interrogated; being asked vague questions;
having your view summarily shot down; tutors appearing bored. Conversely, being
genuinely enthusiastic in the topic is regarded as a real plus.

8. Confidence

Only do what's comfortable. Don't try to force things, especially at first. The important
thing is to reflect on what you do, and this is the best basis for experimentation and
change.

9. Be pragmatic

There is no such thing as the perfect seminar, and what works with one group may not
work with the next. Some groups will not work effectively no matter what you try to do.
There is nothing wrong in admitting defeat with one group: it happens to all tutors at
some time.

10. Remember you were a student once

This is a piece of advice from students themselves and suggests the importance of
supporting students and not forgetting the pressures of student life and the transitions
they are experiencing.

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