The word ‘lecture’ is derived from the Latin lectare, ‘to read aloud’ [Exley & Dennick, 2004, p. 3]. Lectures were central in the centuries-long evolution of the university and they remain practically synonymous with higher education today: in the UK, ‘lecturer’ is the most common title of university teachers. The fundamental attraction of the lecture as a teaching method is clear: it allows a single teacher to disseminate information to a large number of students simultaneously. As such it allows course leaders to ensure all students are offered the same knowledge of a subject and represents cheap ‘contact-time’ to university administrations.
Conversely, frequent over-reliance on lectures and the variable abilities of lecturers themselves has led to intense criticisms of the lecture as an outmoded and inefficient form of teaching: ‘Lecturing is the transference of the notes of the lecturer to the notes of the student without passing through the brains of either.’ [Exley & Dennick, 2004, p. 3] There is often a concentration on what is being taught rather than what is being learned: student attention has been shown to fall rapidly throughout the course of a lecture [Gibbs, 1992, pp. 113-4].
To address these criticisms, it is necessary to assess what lectures should be intended to achieve as well as how to improve practice. A critical point to recognise is that the purpose of lecturing is not ‘to tell students about content that they could read more effectively’ [Biggs & Tang, 2007, p. 110]. Lectures are not suited for simply delivering large blocks of the curriculum but rather for organising that knowledge, providing the critical insight of a subject expert, and revealing recent developments in a field, which often have yet to make it into textbooks. A good lecture can be an inspiring and intellectually exciting experience. A great deal can also be done in terms of improving attention and learning, from simple measures to improve public speaking and presentation skills (something practising academics are expected to possess but are rarely trained in) to introducing elements of interactivity, such as use of worksheets, Q&A, quizzes and guided intra-student discussion.
While lectures, by their nature, are hard to tailor to individual learners and student diversity, this is not an argument for their abandonment but rather for ensuring they are simply one component within a taught course rather than the predominant or sole method of instruction. An often overlooked argument in favour of lectures is that they give students a sense of identity and allow them to feel part of a learning community [Brown & Race, 2002, p. 52]. Learning happens between students as well as independently; without lectures many students would quite possibly never meet most of their colleagues on a course and may feel isolated and discouraged. If universities are not simply to become deliverers of ‘course content’ which may be equally suitable to individual distance learning, lectures still have a role.
Bibliography
Biggs, J. and Tang, C. (2007) Teaching for Quality Learning at University (3rd. edition) Open University Press: Maidenhead
Brown, S. and Race, P. (2002) Lecturing: A Functional Guide ,Kogan Page: London
Exley, K. and Dennick, R. (2004) Giving a Lecture: From Presenting to Teaching, RoutledgeFalmer: London/New York
Gibbs, G. (1992) Lecturing to More Students, PCFC Teaching More Students Project Book 2, Oxford Brookes: Oxford
Conversely, frequent over-reliance on lectures and the variable abilities of lecturers themselves has led to intense criticisms of the lecture as an outmoded and inefficient form of teaching: ‘Lecturing is the transference of the notes of the lecturer to the notes of the student without passing through the brains of either.’ [Exley & Dennick, 2004, p. 3] There is often a concentration on what is being taught rather than what is being learned: student attention has been shown to fall rapidly throughout the course of a lecture [Gibbs, 1992, pp. 113-4].
To address these criticisms, it is necessary to assess what lectures should be intended to achieve as well as how to improve practice. A critical point to recognise is that the purpose of lecturing is not ‘to tell students about content that they could read more effectively’ [Biggs & Tang, 2007, p. 110]. Lectures are not suited for simply delivering large blocks of the curriculum but rather for organising that knowledge, providing the critical insight of a subject expert, and revealing recent developments in a field, which often have yet to make it into textbooks. A good lecture can be an inspiring and intellectually exciting experience. A great deal can also be done in terms of improving attention and learning, from simple measures to improve public speaking and presentation skills (something practising academics are expected to possess but are rarely trained in) to introducing elements of interactivity, such as use of worksheets, Q&A, quizzes and guided intra-student discussion.
While lectures, by their nature, are hard to tailor to individual learners and student diversity, this is not an argument for their abandonment but rather for ensuring they are simply one component within a taught course rather than the predominant or sole method of instruction. An often overlooked argument in favour of lectures is that they give students a sense of identity and allow them to feel part of a learning community [Brown & Race, 2002, p. 52]. Learning happens between students as well as independently; without lectures many students would quite possibly never meet most of their colleagues on a course and may feel isolated and discouraged. If universities are not simply to become deliverers of ‘course content’ which may be equally suitable to individual distance learning, lectures still have a role.
Bibliography
Biggs, J. and Tang, C. (2007) Teaching for Quality Learning at University (3rd. edition) Open University Press: Maidenhead
Brown, S. and Race, P. (2002) Lecturing: A Functional Guide ,Kogan Page: London
Exley, K. and Dennick, R. (2004) Giving a Lecture: From Presenting to Teaching, RoutledgeFalmer: London/New York
Gibbs, G. (1992) Lecturing to More Students, PCFC Teaching More Students Project Book 2, Oxford Brookes: Oxford