A Learning Experience: To Lecture or Not to Lecture?

Lectures in the classroom have acquired a bad reputation for the last few decades. Although it is effective enough in conveying factual content just like any other sought teaching style, a number of studies have concluded that it fails to encourage a deeper level of comprehension in the learners necessary for their development and learning. Specifically speaking, the tendency to study and influence students’ attitudes and behaviors, critical and independent thinking ability, problem-solving skills, application of new knowledge to real-life situations, open-minded examination of controversial or debatable topics, mastering technical skills, improving communication strategies, personal and social adaptability, motivation for additional learning, knowledge retention, and overall satisfaction level with the course.

Furthermore, lectures are considered to avail a superficial, straightforward approach to learning. In order to instill and extract deeper, conceptual learning outcomes, methods that are more student-centric, discussion- and inquiry-based are preferred.

The fact is further cemented by an ancient research dating back to the 1920s that lectures are easily forgettable. The statistics indicated that the ‘forgetting curve’ of the students accounted for 62% recall of the content just presented in the classroom, 45% recall after three to four days, and just 24% recall after 8 weeks.

The lecture shouldn’t be, neither are meant to be presented in a timeless and forgettable manner. It can be protected, but only if prepared vigilantly and delivered as intended with the right purpose. Additionally, lectures should come with thought-provoking and conceptual insights in the form of activities for the students.

To Lecture or Not to Lecture?

Teachers should understand the fact that student learning goals should lead the option for approaches. As stated above that linear, straightforward lectures are only useful in terms of aiding the students to acquire knowledge, but when we talk about improving on the forgetting curve, such lectures are not that promising after all. Still, knowledge is at the core of every teacher’s passion. Therefore, it would be totally inappropriate to say that lectures are all useless and time wasting.

Here are the occasions in which the lectures become the prime tool in the classroom to get the students through a quality experience.

·        You want to create a problem-solving approach or a higher order workaround before asking the students to practice it themselves.

·        You want to provide a quick go-through knowledge, the content that has not been summarized on paper.

·        When you want the students to acquire a highly significant and complex knowledge as per their needs and level in a manner that no other education source is capable of.

·        When you want to provide a specific organization of content that clears the structure of the reading, topic, or the subject.

·        You want to present a researched topic with your own personal opinion and comprehension.

·        You want to provide the trendiest information to your learners, the information that is not yet available at any other source of access for the student’s caliber.

·        Considering your style is expressive, you would want to use lectures as much as possible in order to arouse curiosity and motivation level in the students.

Do note that some of the above occasions will become mandatory given the lack of other teaching resources. While if you are able to find some material online, then most likely it is obtained as a reading assignment. In fact, some teachers provide their lectures into homework, posting print versions, podcasts, videos, eBooks, etc. on the classroom blog for students to download. Some educators teach online or hybrid courses, while some may be content for face-to-face in-class activities for the students.

Furthermore, avoid lecturing material that is already contained in the reading assignment you have provided or any other subject matter. Repetition of the lectures depends on the nature and complexity of the subject, but ideally speaking, it is better to remove repetitive sessions and make room for more student-centric activities.

Author Bio

Lara Hawkins is a professional educator, having worked in diverse fields in the industry. Besides her regular job and posting trendiest information for readers at the global level, Lara also operates an accomplished assignment writing company with a student base registering from a plethora of disciplines.