Lecture
Faculty provided extended verbal explanations and clarifications to the whole class.
About
Lecturing at Bucknell is extremely common, with about 80% of faculty lecturing all or most of the time. What is of great interest is the reported duration of those lectures: about 20 minutes. What this shows is that, even in a short 52 minute classes, faculty have 30 minutes of other activities alongside their lecturing. Since 29 of the 35 other activities described in this survey averaged 30 minutes per usage, that means faculty have time for almost every other activity mentioned in this survey. And since 14 of the activities average less than 20 minutes, and four less than 10, faculty might even be using three different activities in a given class.
A second interesting item is that the modal answer for the duration was 5 minutes. Combined with the longer average, this might suggest that faculty are providing a number of mini-lectures at various points in the class. For example, there class could be involved in a 20 minute small group exercise, but it is introduced with a 5-minute lecture, and possibly interrupted with a second mini-lecture to clarify a point, and then wrapped up with a third mini-lecture that might summarize the main points of the exercise.
These data are being averaged, so the median minutes are reduced (and there are are surely faculty who lecture for the entire duration of class), but having an actual duration helps tell a very different story about classroom activity than the often pejorative “80% of faculty lecture all or most of the time.” Rather, we might say that “Bucknell faculty employ a variety of teaching strategies, but almost always include some lecture for providing information to the whole class, especially if it is new, complex, or dense.”
The original study's data and analysis for "Lecture" can be found on this link.
What Faculty Have To Say
Strengths (6)
- Effective tool for providing information to the whole class, especially if it is new, complex, or dense
- Efficient method for covering a lot of material
- Displays critical thinking and problem solving
- Can invite and answer class questions
- Can communicate enthusiasm for the subject
- Requires students to think!
Weaknesses (9)
- Traditional lecture is boring
- The lecturer does all the work (prep, presentation, q&a)
- Lack of a role makes them passive
- Hard for short attention spans
- Only engages some
- Goes over their heads, especially if they’re unprepared
- Can be too technical
- Provides more information than they can absorb
- Needs injections of active learning to keep them awake
Pedagogy Usage
Bucknell faculty was asked their best estimate for how often in the semester they used Lecture and the average class time it took.
Average Duration: 19 min (mode=5)
Remote Suggestions
Short lectures on multiple topics can still be prepared using a varity of formats, and can easliy include slides, diagramming or problem solving on whiteboards or chalkboards. It is still recommend that recorded lectures are no longer than 15 minutes maximum, and that the lectures also take time to prepare students for other, more active exercies. Consider dividing your course into distinct modules, with a brief lecture to prepare students for the learning activities involved in that module. Supplement lectures by providing a digital version of your lecture notes, perhaps as annotated slides or as text. You might also also students to respond to your video with a video of their own.
Resources for Additional Learning
Articles & Books
- How to Improve Classroom Lectures, Loren D. Reid. Autumn, 1948.
- Lecture as Transmedial Pegagogical Form: A Historical Analysis, Norm Friesen. Educational Researcher.
- The Rise of Note‐Taking in Early Modern Europe. A. Blair.
- The Twilight of the Lecture: Craig Lanbert: http://harvardmagazine.com/2012/03/twilight-of-the-lecture
Websites
- Montclair State University
- The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning