February 18, 2002 Faculty panel debates the lecture as a tool of instruction By Jennifer McNulty Bad lectures are famous for their sleep-inducing qualities, but good lectures are like great art--inspirational, invigorating, memorable, and occasionally life changing. Bettina Aptheker was one of the participants in the Convocation on Teaching. Photo: UCSC Photo Services Valued, tolerated, or despised, lectures are a mainstay of instruction in today's universities despite the challenges they present for instructors, as well as students. Last week, about 60 people gathered to hear five accomplished UCSC professors discuss the pros and cons of the lecture as an instructional method. The occasion was the Eighth Annual Convocation on Teaching, and mathematics professor Bruce Cooperstein, chair of the Academic Senate's Committee on Teaching, moderated the discussion. Professor Emeritus John Dizikes of American studies offered commentary following presentations by the participants: Professors James Bierman of theater arts, Charles McDowell of computer science, Eugene Switkes of chemistry, Bettina Aptheker of women's studies, and Assistant Professor June Gordon of education. The discussion spanned the age of Socrates, suspected by Bierman of being a "closet lecturer," to the era of the Internet. Defended by several participants as an effective technique for imparting information, lectures were also scorned, not only for their soporific effects but for the challenges they pose in engaging students. Perhaps the strongest defense of the lecture came from Switkes, who said lectures do a wonderful job of creating a "big picture" for students. By lecturing in courses like quantum mechanics and psychobiology, Switkes said he tries to help students understand how such subjects "fit into the world." Though not appropriate for every course, or for every instructor, lectures are one important element of teaching, he said. "I think large lectures have gotten a bad rap as being impersonal," said Switkes. "A well-run lecture is very personal, vibrant, conversational. It's a joy. I think the inherent impersonality of the lecture is just a myth." Other panelists shared strategies for overcoming the anonymity of the large lecture class. Even in classes with 300 students, Gordon collects student "self-portraits" to glean information on their family and educational backgrounds, and she enlists "student experts" who share the lectern as a way to enrich the learning experience, build rapport, and help her students build public-speaking skills. "I empower my students as researchers and scholars, not just as recipients of information," said Gordon, who estimates that she has taught nearly 1,600 students in her six years at UCSC. Gordon breaks up 90-minute lectures into four segments to keep her students actively engaged. McDowell classified the two types of lectures he conducts as "motivational," to get students excited about a subject, and "informational," to convey technical material. The success of an informational lecture, in particular, rests on student preparation, said McDowell. If students are sufficiently familiar with the material to have identified questions about it beforehand, lectures hold the potential to fill in those gaps, said McDowell. "The challenge is to make my large lectures like the one-on-one interactions in office hours," said McDowell. Bierman, too, described the beauty of the "aha!" moments that can occur for students during lectures. Like a building under construction, a well-crafted lecture can, in the end, bring together numerous elements to create a thing of beauty. More than one panelist hinted at the vulnerability of those delivering the lecture and the heartache that can come with trying to convey one's passion for a subject to large numbers of students at once. Success comes in degrees, and one's style evolves over time, they suggested. "When I first started teaching, I was so afraid someone would ask a question I couldn't answer," said Aptheker, describing how she used to hide behind her lecture notes while teaching years ago at San Jose State. When the inevitable finally happened, Aptheker found herself able to relax more in the classroom, newly confident of her ability to field unexpected queries and shepherd students through the learning process. For Aptheker, teaching women's studies is a "revolutionary praxis" that requires compassion and "unconditional love" for her students. In addition to teaching students to think critically, she is committed to "breaking down dualisms" between objective and subjective ways of knowing and helping students learn from their own experiences. She uses a number of strategies to counter the hierarchy and authority that is part of the university as an institution. To do this, Aptheker's lectures incorporate stories, poetry, and her own experiences, and she encourages students to make connections with their own lives. "I crack jokes if I'm really desperate," admitted Aptheker. Aptheker said she is chagrined by the disdain she hears many faculty express for teaching large courses with first-year students. "As a parent, I want the best for my children, and that includes having teachers who love them," she said. "I don't think people can learn if you don't love them, whatever the subject is." Responding to a question, Aptheker clarified that the love she tries to bring to the classroom is akin to a spiritual practice. "I've really struggled with this over the years," she said, conceding that her feelings have been hurt by students at times. But she reminds herself of the many reasons students don't engage with their work that have nothing to do with her, including lack of sleep, drugs, emotional difficulty with the subject matter, and more. Dizikes was even more blunt when he said that "a large number of students come to the university with no idea why they are there intellectually." And yet the percentage of young people attending college in this country has exploded from about 5 percent in 1900 to more than 50 percent today, said Dizikes. Despite its shortcomings, which include student displeasure, the paradox of the lecture is that it will be "increasingly employed in universities that continue to grow," he said. Perhaps, he suggested, given today's greater access to information and texts on the Internet, the role of the lecturer will evolve from that of imparting information to placing it in context. Such a scenario would, he said, leave a "very real place for the instructor." Return to Front Page