I Hate Lecturing, but I Love Lectures
I am no fan of a traditional lectures. Whether I’m presenting at a conference or teaching a class of students, my goal is never to stand there and talk without interaction from the audience for a long time.
But I love listening to lectures. I love watching them. I love podcasts that are essentially lectures. I love listening to an expert dive deep into their favorite topic.
Yes, there is a place for lectures inside and outside of our schools.
So, again, what is a lecture? In a discussion I participated in on twitter recently, it was posed that a lecture is “one-way instruction that is at least 5 minutes in time.” That is certainly one definition…but there are countless other definitions. My question is, so what should we call one-way instruction lasting 4 minutes, 59 seconds? Like most aspects of education, it is quite difficult to reach consensus on a term as universal as ‘lecture’. Maybe my interpretation of the lecture is too liberal, but it is difficult for me to comprehend the disdain for this method of instruction. I simply don’t understand how it is passive or simply creates an environment of rote-learning and memorization (By the way, what is so wrong with memorization and knowledge?). Again, this could simply come down to a misunderstanding of the basic definition.
I don’t think anyone would argue that forcing students to focus on a single person for 45 minutes as they drone on about a topic that holds no interest for students is a bad idea.
But are there specific purposes a lecture can serve? Yep.
When considering whether a lecture might be the right choice for a particular lesson, this resource from the University of Tennessee offers some guidelines. It advises that lecture is a good fit when:
The background information is not available or accessible to students
The content may be confusing (and therefore need explanation)
The teacher’s expertise will help make the material more clear
The material needs to be delivered quickly
How do you use lectures in your class? Or do you avoid them at all costs?