Lecture Method

Teaching in higher education is often seen as located between two extremes: (1) the traditional ‘lecture’ approach where an authority figure delivers material in a linear manner to the students and (2) innovative methods that involve a greater degree of bilateral exchange between the lecturer and the student body. The ‘lecture method’ is typically characterized by linear delivery of information, synchronous, step-by-step learning, where the speed of delivery of ‘content’ is set at the instructor’s pace, where content is to a greater degree in the instructor’s control, and where content is produced and controlled by the lecturer. This asymmetrical relationship between the [Page 977]academic, who is positioned as guardian of knowledge, and the students, who are relatively passive recipients of this knowledge, is what characterizes ...