<p>In classes where the textbook is king, that is, classes where all the material learned in the class is in the textbook by default (math and some sciences), lectures can be redundant.
In classes like history, English, Physics, there is always something the professor can/should add that cannot be found in a textbook, be it analysis, a nice little trick or explanation, or application that builds from the textbook or makes it clearer.</p>
<p>Not all textbooks are very accessible, nor are all students competent enough to read a book and take a final like many on this site. </p>
<p>In some classes, you can’t learn everything from reading. Go to an English lecture and tell the professor is just rehashing what has been read. You’re lying or the professor isn’t doing a good job to foster intellectual curiosity.</p>
<p>I like lectures and don’t think I could do without a good lecture professor if colleges were to ban/shun lectures. A good (and by good I mean interactive, well versed, funny, and connective) professor lecturing is like a gold mine of cathartic moments. At least for me.</p>
<p>One of my favorite classes was my Lit gen ed because we held discussions. I hated discussing my opinions about books. The reason, well, someone previously mentioned they don’t like to participate - I’m the same. But hey…
I was never bored and it was interesting. Got an A-, barely.</p>
<p>I couldn’t stand chem lectures or math lectures. I skipped my entire math class first semester and did well. They can put me to sleep. Got A’s.</p>
<p>I value the class I got a lesser (though not by much) grade in because of the discussions. It was less boring and I thought it brought something else to the table. And I don’t need lecturers when I have a book available.</p>
<p>I prefer discussions as you get different ideas and opinions flowing, but I also learn well from lectures. As people have said, different people learn in different ways.</p>
<p>Yeah, often I find that a side remark that the professor gives in lecture saves me a ton of time trying to understand the same thing from reading the notes or a textbook. </p>
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<p>Yeah, I’d rather learn from someone who knows what he is talking about. I think that eliminating the lecture is a bad idea. Interactivity is a good thing, though. Lectures should have some interactive components (questions, etc.). Also, discussion is a good compliment to the lecture, but in most of my classes, it would be a bad replacement to the lecture.</p>
<p>The responses speak volumes: this “tyranny of the lecture” is simply not the case for many students. There are so many learning styles, which is why good profs use a combination of lecture/discussion and know when either is appropriate. No hard-and-fast rule exists, but I would tend to prefer a slightly more lecture-centered course, as the discussion-based one presumes (wrongly so, in many cases) that students can and will meaningfully contribute.</p>
I attended a small LAC and then a large university undergrad, and had significantly more group discussions and interactive sessions at the large university and significantly more sterile lectures at the small LAC. So, be careful in making assumptions based on size.</p>
<p>To the larger point - the classes that impacted me the most were by far the ones rooted in discussion and analysis and not simple rote memorization and regurgitation. The best usually had a lecture segment for the professor to explain his perspectives and insights and then a breakout discussion portion during another class period. That was a good model for philosophy and such, but lectures never worked for me for learning cellular biology et al.</p>
<p>Academia has failed by taking the easy way for too many generations. It’s changing, but slowly.</p>
<p>A good lecturer should add value to what can be read in a textbook. A lecturer mechanically proceeding through a powerpoint presentation only helps the students who are too lazy to read the material on their own.</p>
<p>Students should be required to be prepared before class so they can have a reasonable discussion to better understand the material.</p>
<p>For what we pay in college tuition I expect to have engaged professors lecturing to prepared students. I know that is not the real world, however it should be our expectation.</p>
<p>For those of you who are happy having never gone to a lecture and receiving a good grade, don’t you feel ripped off?</p>
<p>While I like discussions, I’m not sure they’re the best tool for learning material. Lectures are a guided presentation of the material, and they allow for the professor to shape the lecture around the most important information.</p>
<p>I feel that it’d be hard to justify fee increases if a school started to phase out facetime with profs. I actually like lectures for the enthusiasm a good professor will inject into the topics (can’t be replicated by a program), little side stories or personal experiences associated with the subject, etc. For example, my intro bio class had >800 people, which would seem like a huge alienating lecture and covered a lot of material that you could get from a book, but when we learned about viruses the professor told us about his personal experience getting malaria, which was cool. also it helps for exams because a lecturer can highlight certain points and say “this is really important” or “this is key for your exam”.</p>