By Kevin Cheung, Associate Professor, School of Mathematics and Statistics
These days, “lecturing” has been receiving a bad rap; a lecturer who lectures in the traditional sense is often referred to as a “sage on the stage.” The standard argument against the traditional lecture is that it is an outdated mode for information transfer. Indeed, such an argument is difficult to refute if lecturing is merely for information transfer.
Nevertheless, some recent experiences made me feel that the traditional lecture format is far from dead. One time over lunch, a colleague asked me the difference between lecturing online and lecturing in class if you teach the same things. After giving my spiel about how one cannot really teach online in the same manner as one teaches in class, I replied that there is little difference if all there is to teaching is information transfer. However, I made the point that an important part of lecturing is to inspire and it is something very difficult to do in an asynchronous online setting. I also said that the possibility of being able to inspire in real-time is something that I miss most about teaching face-to-face. Sometimes, a little inspiration can go a long way toward helping students persist.
One doesn’t need to look very far to find inspiring traditional lectures. For example, a series of Richard Feynman’s lectures shows what a good lecturer can do even for a difficult subject such as theoretical physics. No doubt I can learn that content from books and online resources. But watching those lectures made me wish that I had been in the audience.
Another recent example is the IEEE EMBS ISC 2016 keynote speech given by Barbara Oakley at Carleton on May 30. I had taken her MOOC and had read one of her books before. Yet, I reserved my seat as soon as I knew about the event. I found her talk inspiring and her passion for teaching contagious.
The traditional lecture format can be quite powerful. In fact, it can be so powerful that one can lecture about nothing and still inspire (see the Dr. Fox effect.). However, a sage can use it for great good.