A Find: In Praise of Lectures

Currently vogue in internal university discussions involving education is the idea that the standard lecture format for a course is not the most effective means to educate students.  We here at Hopkins are quite interested in understanding better how serve our entering students in the large-lecture courses we call Gateway Science courses (Our study of this issue here at Hopkins is appropriately called the Gateway Science Initiative.  Also, you can read a JHU-centric white paper on this issue).  I am on the Steering Committee studying this issue.  There is a lot of talk about active learning, and other alternatives to inspire students who do not benefit from the simple instructor-led lectures.

I definitely agree with the idea that the classroom experience could benefit from a purposeful study of how our students acquire knowledge and an active design approach to how we teach.  However, I was always a bit troubled by some of the criticism leveled at the standard lecture format.  I love lecturing, feel comfortable in leading a classroom this way, and see great value in the experience.

It turns out I am not alone.  Thomas Korner, a mathematician in Trinity College at Cambridge University, has written a defense of the lecture format:

In Praise of Lectures

 I find this essay particularly inspiring.  Give it a read.  It definitely says things that I strongly agree with.

Math in the Media: Flipping a Lecture???

Here at Hopkins, we are engaging in a project to better understand the general purpose and success of how the large-lecture, so-called, Gateway Science classes (the calculus, chemistry, physics, biology, etc.) in preparing students for the higher-level, specialized study of their future majors. It is a huge affair, and taken as a holistic, university-wide endeavor, has the potential to transform the general curriculum here at JHU in far reaching ways.

But more on that later. There is an interesting article in the Chronicle of Higher Education on turning the standard lecture-type model for university instruction into a much more interactive and enriching experience. The article

How 'Flipping' the Classroom Can Improve the Traditional Lecture

is a very good read. Eric Mazur, a physicist from Harvard, gave a talk here at Hopkins recently on his efforts to enliven the classroom experience. Engaging, he was, and his notion of peer-instruction, whereby students learn by active discussion with their peers while under the direction of the instructor, is just one aspect of the search for new models to engage students and promote a better, deeper sense of learning.

If you are here at Hopkins, you WILL see more of this in the years ahead. For now, give the article a good read.