Physicists Seek To Lose The Lecture As Teaching Tool

No, what I am saying is that most lecture has with it assigned ancillaries (homework) which involve self-study. Again, rarely is just lecturing the sole means of educating.

However, per the article, it is a microcosmic sample and a ridiculous one to conclude what it did about lecturing. And that is my point. But personally, from experience, I have learned in a most excellent and robust fashion from a good lecturer and I am certain I am not alone. The prescription being given by the article has a long, long way to be proven and its fractional sample is insufficient.

I provided more supportive documentation from other disciplines. I could post more- I have scads of research on my shelves and in my bookmarks.

The fact is that only a few students are autodidacts, and most require more interaction than a lecture and homework. If a professor doesn’t want to teach the other 90%, he’s got no business in the teaching profession IMO. Teaching isn’t about how the teacher wants to teach, but about meeting the needs of students. I know, I know- that’s educational heresy. But I’m stickin’ by my guns on that one after 31 years of teaching.

If I were to accept that lecturing is the best method of teaching, then by all means- let’s gather the top minds in various fields, record their lectures, produce Power Point presentations, give additional reading suggestions, and be done with it. Why pay these guys to stand there and say the same thing every year when we can streamline the process and stop paying such exorbitant tuition? ‘Cause whenever we start talking about the demise of the university, people start saying “But you’d lose all that great classroom interaction.” Oy vey.

No one has said it is “the best method”. I get the impression you sre projecting assumptions. The contention is with the prescription by the article based on a micro sample. But as stated by someone earlier, lecturing is quite superior on some occasions which demand broadasted in formation.

[Alex Guggenheim]…lecturing is quite superior on some occasions which demand broadasted in formation.

Then in those areas where lecturing is superior, record the best and brightest and broadcast away. I’m good with that. I already said that I have been using online lectures for years to round out my kids’ schooling. I just don’t depend on it when it comes to helping them understand, internalize, and apply the information itself. Which is what learning is dependent on.