Why lectures are a waste of time

Eugenia Cheng University of Cambridge September 2001

lecture n. 1 An act of reading. 2 An address or discourse on a particular subject. A formal discourse delivered to students etc. by a teacher at a college or university. ! A lengthy reprimand.

"ectures are# in general# a terrible $ay to learn things. % doubt that % have ever seriously learnt something from a lecture& % have only learnt things from studying the notes after$ards. So# $hy do $e still bother having lectures' (hy do $e not just ta)e a copy of the te*t and go home' "ectures originated from the days before printing presses# $hen there $as no $ay of +just, ta)ing a copy of the te*t home e*cept by $riting the te*t do$n as it $as being read out. %ndeed# this $as the point of the lecture. Since this is no longer a necessity# are $e simply maintaining an old habit that should be obsolete' What is a lecture? A lecture generally consists of someone standing at the front of the room tal)ing# and a large group of people frantically trying to $rite do$n everything being said. Sometimes lashings of modern multi-media technology may be thro$n in& in maths lectures# this tends only to go as far as blac)boards# and the listeners copying do$n e*actly $hat is $ritten on them. Too many people A lecture# by definition# has too many people in it. %t has too many people for any meaningful interaction# and therefore too many different abilities to be catered for simultaneously. %f it had fe$ enough people for interaction# it $ould be a seminar or a class. A lecture is inevitably a one-$ay delivery of information# too fast for some people and too slo$ for everyone else.

Swallow it now or miss it and its gone .eceiving information in real time is difficult because it necessitates )eeping e*act pace $ith the information arriving. /his is not necessarily just a case of +too fast, or +too slo$,. 0ifferent people catch onto different ideas at different rates. %n a lecture# if you stop and thin) about an idea# you $ill miss the ne*t one. /here is no time to understand the things that are hard# and no time to e*plore the things that are interesting. /his is a particular problem in disciplines such as maths $here the material is cumulative& if you lose the thread for a moment there is little chance of re-entering the argument. The way ahead: be brain dead %magine a group of people being fed by an automated feeding machine that places spoonfuls of food in each mouth at preset regular intervals. 1o$ever# different people and different foods re2uire different che$ing times. 3% have done an e*periment on t$o people and ra$ carrot. 4ne person che$ed si*teen times& the other % gave up counting $hen he reached one hundred.5 1o$ fast should the machine go' %f it goes slo$ly# some people $ill have to sit around $asting their time $aiting for the ne*t mouthful. %f it goes faster# some $ill end up $ith more food forced into their mouths $hile still che$ing the previous mouthful. /he ans$er# of course# is doggy-bags. Each person should be e2uipped $ith a doggy-bag so that $hen food arrives too soon# it can be ta)en home and eaten later. 1o$ever# if someone insists on eating main course before pudding they $ill need to finish the main course from the doggy-bag before eating the pudding from the machine. 4f course# $hile they are eating the main course from the doggy-bag# they $ill also have to be putting the pudding into the doggy-bag as it arrives. So it $ould be easier just to ta)e the $hole meal home in the doggy-bag in the first place# and ditch the machine. /he same holds for lectures. /he solution most people find is to stop trying to assimilate the information being presented# and just $rite it all do$n and thin) about it later. So $ould it not be easier just to ta)e the notes home in the first place and ditch the lecturer' The question of handouts 6y o$n e*perience of going to lectures is this. /a)ing notes means $riting do$n one thing and listening to another at the same time. %f there are no handouts# % am convinced that % $ould be able to understand $hat $as going on if only % didn,t have to $rite it do$n. 7ut if there

are handouts# % might as $ell ta)e the handouts and go home. 3Any$ay# can,t the lecturer just ma)e them available on the $eb'5 1o$ever# it might be better to attend if the handouts do not contain absolutely all that is presented in the lecture. 7ut in this case it is so hard to insert the e*tra bits into the printed notes that it is often easier just to ta)e a complete set of notes myself. Lectures are too long /his is a fact. What is the human being there for? /his is the 2uestion that should be as)ed by everyone# including the said human being# since all the above comments point to printed reading matter rather than live human beings. Surely a live human being can add something to the learning process' (hat is the difference bet$een reading a boo) and being told a story' 8ersonally# % $ould rather read a boo) so that % can fast for$ard and re$ind as % choose. 4h dear. (hat is the difference bet$een reading a script and going to see a play' /here are obvious differences in the form of action in front of us 9 costumes# props# movement around the stage. Should a lecturer dress up and $ave objects around' A production of a play is# of course# more than the props and costumes. /here is something in the delivery of the $ords that conveys emotions to us directly# $hereas $hen $e read a script there is a certain amount of emotion that $e must inject ourselves. So is the tas) of a lecturer to convey emotional information to us' %sn,t academia supposed to be a rational discipline' Lectures are at the wrong time 7y this % do not mean that they are too early in the morning# although this usually does happen to be the case 3unless they are too soon after lunch or too late in the day5. %n mathematics at least# the role of a lecture is to teach ne$ material. 7ut $e $ould probably benefit more from the input of the lecturer if the material $ere not completely ne$ to us# but rather# slightly familiar and re2uiring further elucidation. Speaking the written word /he difference bet$een spo)en language and $ritten language is not as distinct in English as it is in some languages& the difference tends to be a matter of style rather than formal

differences of grammar or vocabulary. 1o$ever# the difference is there. %n some disciplines it is standard practice for a lecture to be $ritten as a paper 3appro*imately t$enty pages for an hour'5 $hich is then read out. Aside from all the above points# there is the 2uestion of style. /he easiest $ay to understand written language is to read it from the page& the easiest sort of language to understand aurally is spoken language. A good essay should ma)e a terrible lecture# and vice versa. The opposite of the best way of learning :or me personally# the best $ay of learning mathematics is private tuition. 4bviously this is not al$ays practical# but the smaller the group the better. 4n this scale# a lecture is the $orst possible $ay of learning. /he only advantage of a large group over private tuition is social# but if % $ant to be sociable % can al$ays thro$ a party. So a lecture is a practical compromise# $hich is al$ays bound to be a bad thing. 7ut given that practical compromise is necessary# ho$ can $e improve the situation as much as possible' Do not e pect to understand /his is most important for maths lectures. Simply put# mathematics is difficult to understand first time round. /his is probably true for most people in most disciplines as $ell. Apart from for a fe$ luc)y geniuses# fluency in a ne$ idea is unli)ely to be immediate. %t ta)es practice# and $here ideas are concerned this means hard thought. So nobody should be e*pected to understand things in lectures. /he hope is that $e go a$ay from the lecture sufficiently equipped to be able to do that practice# and sufficiently motivated actually to go and do it. !e emotional An academic discipline should not be emotional# but our engagement $ith it should be. /his is $here the lecturer,s human input comes in& a lecturer can convey something of their emotional involvement $ith the material# as long as the listeners are open to receiving it. A conductor can convey intense emotions to an orchestra# but only if they are loo)ing at him. What are lectures good for? % have so far presented a rather one-sided vie$# $hen in fact there are some advantages to lectures. "ectures are good for ogling celebrities if it happens to be a celebrity lecture. /hey are

good for getting hold of the notes from the previous lecture that you missed. /hey are good for sleeping# or at least# they $ould be if only the person at the front $ould stop tal)ing. "onclusion %n conclusion# $e should all as) ourselves $hether or not the person at the front of the lecture is adding anything of value to the ra$ information being presented. %f not# $e should $a)e up# metaphorically or other$ise# and spend our time teaching and learning properly.