<p>I understand what a lecture is, but I'm looking at the course schedules at the University I'm going to be starting at next month and some say they are discussion and some say seminar. What is the difference between those and lecture? Is it just what they say or is there more to each of the 2 to make them different than a lecture?</p>
<p>I've been at a community college the last 3 years so I'm new to this.</p>
<p>A discussion is a smaller class usually connected to a course’s lecture. Lectures tend to be led by professors/lecturers while a discussion is typically taught by a teaching assistant (TA). A seminar is a smaller class that has nothing else with it. Seminars tend to be more open to conversation and inquest from what I know.</p>
<p>Islander got it right.</p>
<p>Discussion classes are probably the funner of the three, because you can discuss what the topic (or if your like me and go to a small school, the lecture and discussion class is all in one lol).</p>
<p>Seminars… are like intro classes i guess (i’ve only had one and it was when i was a freshman). It let us get used to the topic and the school itself (library and what not).</p>
<p>Lecture = you don’t talk and can sleep
Discussion = you should talk and are encouraged to
Seminar = you have to talk or your grade will drop</p>
<p>I’ve never had a Discussion class, but I prefer seminars to lectures.
Lectures you just sit there and write, (not that I’m great at note-taking…), and in seminars you can engage. In the best seminars the professor will lead the discussion, but everyone voices their opinion, and sometimes students will develop a debate while the professor observes.</p>
<p>In my first year, each module had one lecture a week (1 hour long) and one seminar a week (2 hours long).
In the second year, I only had a lecture in one module. The other sessions were all seminars.
In the third year, there are no lectures and seminars are 3 hours long.</p>