Where am I?
Lectures That Work
“Whither College Lectures? Maybe Right Out the Door” wrote William Honan in the New York Times on August 14, 2002. Like it or not, the traditional lecture is a highly efficient way of conveying a large amount of information to a large number of students in a short period of time. Questions linger over the value of lectures, and the amount of learning that actually occurs during a lecture or as a result of a lecture.
If you find that lectures are necessary for your discipline or teaching style, check out our schedule to see if there are workshops or seminars that could help maximize your lectures.
Here are some Internet resources that provide some additional information:
- In Pursuit of the 'Perfect Lecture'By Jeffrey S. Nevid
- Effective Lecturing from Roosevelt University
- Preparing to Teach the Large Lecture Class from the Office of Educational Development at the University of California, Berkeley
- Crafting Effective Lectures from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Faculty Development Center Colorado School of Mines 2000 Faculty Senate Distinguished Lecture
- "It's Time for a Change to a More Effective Paradigm in College Teaching" by Thomas E. Furtak, Professor of Physics
- William Honan’s New York Times article
Recommended Book from the Center
Bligh, Donald A. (2000). What’s the Use of Lectures? San Francisco: Jossey Bass. In this book, Bligh describes the kinds of information that are best delivered through lecture format, how to effectively organize a lecture, and how to integrate active learning into a lecture without throwing the lecture away. Helpful guidance about student note taking is also included.