Attending lectures or seminars

Attending lectures is often the only way to get information on particular subjects, or be able to interact with well-known (thus rarely available) people. Attending lectures requires a particular kind of constructive listening skills. The basic attitude is that you take responsibility for the outcome of the lecture: by asking questions, through appropriate preparation and an active listening posture. You get out of a lecture what you put into it. The listener is always ‘co-producer’. If you are unaware of this process many lectures will be a waste of time. If you have difficulties to concentrate for the duration of a presentation (e.g. if you are prone to day-dream) train yourself to prolong your listening skills. Lapses in your concentration are not necessarily caused by the lecturer. Your concentration increases when you follow six rules: (1) properly prepare mentally, (2) read in advance, (3) be actively involved, (4) adopt an active posture, (5) ask questions and (6) always evaluate.

The more ‘actively’ you attend a lecture - the more you are ‘involved’ in the lecture - the greater the benefit to you. Work on being a 'co-producer' during lectures.

The kind of questioning style you adopt depends on the impression and the atmosphere that you would like to create during the interview (D2). You should be familiar with the various categories, the drawbacks and the positive aspects, before you select a combination of techniques. Find out what kind of questions you feel comfortable with (Table D.4a). Check whether they are also effective for the purposes of your research.

The pace of lectures is too quick for me to take notes (D6). Make reproducible notes while listening Making notes while conducting an interview requires a lot of practice. You should be able to concentrate on what is being said while you are writing. The use of abbreviations is often necessary in order not to write all the time. Get used to a number of abbreviations, and symbols in order to be able to decipher different types of notes (C10):

• Use special codes (for example, * #) in the margin which indicate that this is your opinion - not the interviewees.
• If the respondent makes an interesting remark, use quotation marks when you register it. However, do not quote the respondent literally in your research report. The quotation marks should serve to indicate the relevance of the information to you at a later point in time.
•  Write your commentary in your mother tongue if you conduct an interview in a foreign language.

Indicate immediately, in your notes, when you find a remark important or perhaps questionable. If you do this clearly, it will be easier to return to this point before finishing the interview.

Attending lectures is often the only way to get information on particular subjects, or be able to interact with well-known (thus rarely available) people. Attending lectures requires a particular kind of constructive listening skills. The basic attitude is that you take responsibility for the outcome of the lecture: by asking questions, through appropriate preparation and an active listening posture. You get out of a lecture what you put into it. The listener is always ‘co-producer’. If you are unaware of this process many lectures will be a waste of time. If you have difficulties to concentrate for the duration of a presentation (e.g. if you are prone to day-dream) train yourself to prolong your listening skills. Lapses in your concentration are not necessarily caused by the lecturer. Your concentration increases when you follow six rules: (1) properly prepare mentally, (2) read in advance, (3) be actively involved, (4) adopt an active posture, (5) ask questions and (6) always evaluate.

The more ‘actively’ you attend a lecture - the more you are ‘involved’ in the lecture - the greater the benefit to you. Work on being a 'co-producer' during lectures.

If you want to be actively involved in a lecture, there should not be a big distance between you and the lecturer. Therefore, sit as close as possible to the front of the room. You will not only show your interest, but you will also give the lecturer the chance to keep you interested by addressing you more directly and/or responding to your body language. The way that you sit has two effects: (1) it affects the way that you listen, (2) it indicates your level of interest to the lecturer. Both effects are often mutually reinforcing. If you do not sit upright your concentration will easily lapse, and because you look disinterested the lecturer will see this and also become less interested, which in turn reinforces your impression of disinterest. Increase your concentration. Do not sit on the edge of your chair or lean backwards.

Use Table B.5 as an aid to assessing the intentions of the teacher. The first column contains a number of possible assignments given by the teacher. The second column refers to possible interpretations of ‘understanding’, ‘perception’, ‘critical’, and ‘application’. These interpretations can then be used to decide which kind of study method should be used to comply with the intention of the assignment/teacher. When filling in the third column you confront two aspects of intentions for studying: what you want to do, and what the teacher wants you to do. You will see immediately where discrepancies lie between your preferred style of studying and the teacher’s demands. Talk about this problem with your teacher. Many teachers are often open to changes, once they are confronted by serious and dedicated participants (The Challenge, part I).

If you prepare for an exam it is relevant to know whether the teacher aims (and tests) at understanding, critical perceptions and/or applications. Old exam questions can come at hand, certainly if the teacher is prepared to explain the intentions behind the past questions.

Make reproducible notes while listening Making notes while conducting an interview requires a lot of practice. You should be able to concentrate on what is being said while you are writing. The use of abbreviations is often necessary in order not to write all the time. Get used to a number of abbreviations, and symbols in order to be able to decipher different types of notes (C10):

• Use special codes (for example, * #) in the margin which indicate that this is your opinion - not the interviewees.
• If the respondent makes an interesting remark, use quotation marks when you register it. However, do not quote the respondent literally in your research report. The quotation marks should serve to indicate the relevance of the information to you at a later point in time.
• Write your commentary in your mother tongue if you conduct an interview in a foreign language.

Indicate immediately, in your notes, when you find a remark important or perhaps questionable. If you do this clearly, it will be easier to return to this point before finishing the interview.

Listening and observing in a systematic way can be used in as input for a variety of feedback aims. It can be an input for the evaluation of presentation skills. It can be used to receive feedback either individually or from a group. Listening can in a particular way also function as input for your own argumentation and writing skills.

Listening to give constructive feedback
Constructive communication is ‘owned’, not ‘disowned’ (Whetten et al, 248). It requires that individuals that engage in giving feedback do this as involved person with an own opinion (“I think”), rather than as an uninvolved ‘judge’ with a statement (“we think”, “it is”). Owned communication is assertive communication (B3). It focuses on the problem (an effective presentation for instance), not on the person. The art of giving constructive feedback to others requires that one is capable of listening and observing in a systematic and constructive way. Systematically listening to a lecture also provides input for your own speech-giving skills. Constructive feedback always consists first of a number of more or less neutral observations, followed by a personal assessment of the effectiveness of the message. For your observations, you can use very detailed analysis schemes for this, but basically you (1) try to figure out whether you could distinguish a clear opening, argument and conclusions, and (2) whether that was supported by verbal and non-verbal behaviour as well as the effective use of tools. For your personal assessment you ask yourself: is it clear what the presenter wanted to get across, did it raise my interest and was I inspired by the presentation.