August 25, 2006 (Updated, October 30th, November 1st and January 12th, 2007).
During the Fall, 2006 semester, I used Overview and Focus lectures avaliable for download on this site. Each overview lecture provides a brief introduction to the contents of a book chapter. Focus lectures highlight a particular idea, issue, or special topic within a chapter and organize some coverage around it. The information in a focus lecture is generally from the book, but is organized somewhat differently from the book, and is sometimes supplemented slightly.
Each week during the semester, I began with an overview lecture that introduced a chapter topic, and then continued with from 2 to 4 focus lectures on special subtopics.
I found that this approach provided a balance between following the book too closely, on the one hand, and lecturing on something entirely different from the book, on the other. For me, at least, I found that this overview-focus approach worked better than do the standard lectures (which I used Spring, 2006). Others may prefer following the book and its outline, in which case the standard lectures will be the better choice.
Note that the overview and focus lectures represent slight modifications of the standard lectures -- some additions, deletions, and reorganizations. I revised these newer lectures throughout the Fall, 2006 semester, and fairly regularly posted new versions.
-- Jack
