CRITIQUE ASSIGNMENT
Lecture: Critique Assignment
Amanda Weber
Department of Psychology, Liberty University
1
Author Note
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to Amanda Weber, American
Psychological Association, 750 First St. NE, Washington, D.C. 20001, United States. Email:
CRITIQUE ASSIGNMENT2
Lecture: Critique Assignment
For this assignment I chose to watch the Intro to Psychology lecture given by Professor
Paul Bloom (Yale, 2008). Dr. Bloom was dressed in formal business clothing, including a suit
and tie, and was generally appropriately groomed for a business setting. He appeared to be a
seasoned presenter and was relaxed and comfortable in front of his class. His pace was neither
too fast nor too slow and though he did occasionally use filler words (particularly the word
“umm”), his usage was not excessive and did not significantly detract from the overall
presentation. Seals and Coppock (2022) note that overuse of filler words can have a negative
impact on speaker credibility, but that occasional use during a lecture or presentation does not
significantly detract from the believability of most presenters, and in this case, I found the
speaker’s occasional “umm’s” to be neither distracting nor indicative of uncertainty on his topic.
In his lecture, Dr. Bloom came across as both knowledgeable and approachable. He
accomplished this with a mix of confident, friendly language, specific and relatable examples,
effective use of technology, and sprinkling in jokes and moments of levity. Though the slides
were not visible in the recording, he obviously used slides to help guide his lecture and illustrate
the points he was talking about, but the technology was used to enhance the lecture, and his
presentation was not dependent upon it. Harrison (2021) emphasizes the importance of using
technology to enhance student engagement and found that an overreliance on technology and
specifically on slides, can detract from the overall presentation. Dr. Bloom incorporated the use
of the slides appropriately to show pictures of the cases he presented, and also to insert moments
of levity, such as when he showed a picture of baby pandas for no other reason than to quickly
note how cute they were. His lecture was clearly not dependent upon his slides, however,
particularly given that I was easily able to follow along despite not being able to see the slides.
CRITIQUE ASSIGNMENT3
Instead, the slides were the presenter’s main method of interactivity and student engagement. He
asked for students to engage and acknowledge specific pictures and asked them whether they
recognized the faces put on screen – particularly noting when one student recognized a picture of
Ted Bundy and using the opportunity to make a mild joke.
Critique
Strengths and Weaknesses
Perhaps Dr. Bloom’s biggest strength was his manner of speech. His language and
cadence were easy to listen to and understand, and he used vocabulary appropriate to his
audience. The expectation of undergraduate students at Yale to understand mid-to-high level
vocabulary as defined by Dang (2022) but not to have a solid grasp on advanced, technical
jargon seems to have been observed. This had the likely effect of engaging his audience without
coming off as either condescending or overly demanding. Our assigned text for the course
emphasizes the importance of having high expectations for students (Bernstein, et al., 2020) and
I believe that by using advanced vocabulary, Dr. Bloom was able to demonstrate those
expectations without having to directly communicate them.
Another strong component of Dr. Bloom’s lecture was his manner of dress. He appeared
professional and appropriately groomed, which indicated both his regard for his students, and the
job at hand. While there has been a trend of professors dressing more casually to convey
approachability to their students (Kashem, 2019), research has shown that students find
professors more credible when they are dressed in business attire, particular during an initial
interaction (Lightstone, et al., 2011). I concur and feel that Dr. Bloom’s attire enhanced his
credibility and further demonstrated a level of respect for both his audience and his own position.
CRITIQUE ASSIGNMENT4
Two areas which Dr. Bloom might consider improving relate to the level and modality of
interactivity in his lecture and his body movements during his presentation. In this lecture, the
presenter engaged students by asking general questions with no real accountability for answers.
While this is a way to increase engagement, in my experience, it is less effective than more
concrete interactive activities. Rather than simply asking the audience for head nods, Dr. Bloom
could have more effectively incorporated the use of technology with his slide deck by using a
clicker response or poll question such as Sli.do or iClicker. This would serve the dual purpose of
engaging his students by giving them a tangible task to complete and provide him with data
about his students, both important components of a successful lecture according to Harrison
(2021). Of course, in 2008, when this lecture was recorded, his students would not likely have
had smart phones to facilitate the ease of this process, but he could have asked the same question
and used the tried and true method of asking for a show of hands, which accomplishes the same
goals.I also noticed that Dr. Bloom tended to pace a bit during certain parts of his lecture.
While some movement is certainly preferably to standing stiffly (Anderson, 2023), Dr. Bloom’s
pacing was distracting. I think he would have done better to limit his movements to those which
corresponded more appropriately to the points he was making.
CRITIQUE ASSIGNMENT5
References
Anderson, C. (2023, April 6). How to give a killer presentation. Harvard Business Review.
https://hbr.org/2013/06/how-to-give-a-killer-presentation
Bernstein, D. A., Frantz, S., & Chew, S. (2020). Teaching psychology: A step-by-step guide (3rd
ed.). Routledge.
Dang, T. N. (2022). Vocabulary in academic lectures. Journal of English for Academic
Purposes, 58, 101123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2022.101123
Harrison, S. (2021). Showing as sense-making in oral presentations: The speech-gesture-slide
interplay in TED talks by professor Brian Cox. Journal of English for Academic Purposes,
53, 101002. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2021.101002
Kashem, M. A. (2019). The effect of teachers’ dress on students’ attitude and students’ learning:
Higher education view. Education Research International, 2019, 1–7.
https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/9010589
Lightstone, K., Francis, R., & Kocum, L. (2011). University Faculty Style of Dress and Students’
Perception of Instructor Credibility. International Journal of Business and Social Science,
2(15), 15–22.
Seals, D. R., & Coppock, M. E. (2022). We, um, have, like, a problem: Excessive use of fillers in
scientific speech. Advances in Physiology Education, 46(4), 615–620.
https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00110.2022
Yale University. (2008). Introduction to and Requirements for the Course. YouTube. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3FKHH2RzjI.
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