A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Enhancing academic and Practice

5
Lecturing to
large groups
Ann Morton
INTRODUCTION
Much of the writing in the late 1980s indicated that sitting in lectures was not always a
particularly effective way for students to learn and predicted that the next few years
would see the demise of the lecture. But lectures remain a significant part of the student
learning experience, to the extent that even distance-learning students are often able to
access recorded lectures over the web, or to receive the lecture in real time through video
conferencing technology. There are those who would argue that the only reason the lecture
has remained is because of significant growth in student numbers seen in the UK over
the past decade. It is, after all, an efficient means of delivery. However, this view does a
disservice to all those teaching staff who receive excellent feedback on their lectures from
students.
This chapter will explore what makes an outstanding lecture that is able to promote
student learning. In particular, three aspects – generating and maintaining interest,
student engagement, and the importance of a good structure – will be considered in some
detail. The case studies are used to illustrate how some teachers in different disciplines
organise their teaching through lectures and achieve active learning.
As class sizes increase, two particular issues may arise that can be particularly difficult
for the teaching team to manage. First, in modular systems the lecture may be attended
by students from varied disciplines, often with very different skills and knowledge bases.
This can provide significant challenges for the lecturer in knowing where to pitch the
lecture and how to keep all students interested. Second, the lecturer may be faced with
having to manage disruptive student behaviour in the class, which is now reported across
disciplines in different universities.
The final section of this chapter will look at PowerPoint as a commonly used piece of
presentation software, which now seems to be a ubiquitous part of the delivery of many
lectures.
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