Has the true lecture gone by the wayside?

Question

By the "true" lecture, I mean a set of ideas presented by a speaker in an uninterrupted manner. The audience only listens. Most of us have attended these lectures at one time or another, but they are usually keynote addresses. DO any of you still have professors who lecture in the old style (Sans q&a)? I had only one in my undergraduate years- an elderly scholar who taught the phenomenology and existentialism courses in the philosophy department. He would lecture one week, then the next we could ask about ideas presented in the lecture. (grad school was too intimate for true lecture, and law school profs. always call on students.)

I use what I call a mini-lecture in my freshman composition and sophomore lit. courses (I have a J.D., but I don't practice law). Yes, I am aware that collaborative learning helps a great deal,
but in SOME students, the challenge of understanding ideas presented in an erudite manner makes them go out and research!

Answer 1

Most of my classes in undergrad were pure lecture. Teacher talked, we sat and took notes. No Q&A. I really didn't get classes where the kids participated much until law school.

Answer 2

I am a university Prof.

Permit me to offer you the teacher's point of view.

We live in a world where education has a high priority in (rich) people's lives. Yet, as me and my colleagues see everyday of the week, many young people are educated beyond their talents. Their attention spans go no further than the 9-second sound byte, and the idea of actually being asked to THINK about something is a rare phenomenon indeed.

So, to take into account all these things, pedagogic/didactic practices have changed over the years too. We must now be more 'interactive' other wise, how on earth will we know if the student is there just to make up the numbers or to actually participate?

Answer 3

Allowing your audience to ask questions helps to ensure comprehension. What good is lecturing for forty minutes if you lost most of your students after fifteen minutes? You're wasting your time and frustrating them. Feedback is part of the process of communicating.

Answer 4

IT HAS BEEN shown that people learn more by active learning than by the old style passive learning (lecture). So I hope so! I use active learning.