Lecture

A lecture is a presentation on a particular subject given in order to teach people about that subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical information, history, background, theories and equations. Usually the lecturer will stand at the front of the room, in front of the class, and present the information relevant to the lecture's content.

Related Topics:
Presentation - University - College - Teacher

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Criticised by educators and methodologists as a one-way method of communication, which does not involve significant audience participation, lectures have nevertheless survived in academia, mainly as a quick, cheap and efficient way of introducing large numbers of students to a particular field of study.

Related Topics:
Communication - Academia

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The noun "lecture" dates from 14th century, meaning "action of reading, that which is read," from the Latin lectus, pp. of legere "to read." Its subsequent meaning as "a discourse on a given subject before an audience for purposes of instruction" is from the 16th century. The verb "to lecture" is attested from 1590.

Related Topics:
Latin - Instruction

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The practice in the Medieval university was for the instructor to read from an original source to a class of students who took notes on the lecture. The reading from original sources evolved into the reading of glosses on an original and then more generally to lecture notes. Throughout much of history, the diffusion of knowledge via handwritten lecture notes was an essential element of academic life.

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Even in the twentieth century the lecture notes taken by students, or prepared by a thinker for a lecture, have sometimes achieved wide circulation (see, for example, the genesis of Ferdinand de Saussure's Cours de linguistique générale). Many professors were, and are, accustomed to actually reading out from their own notes for exactly that purpose. Today, the use of multimedia presentation software such as Microsoft PowerPoint has changed the form of lectures. Critics contend that this style of lecture bombards the audience (as critics such as Edward Tufte put it) with unnecessary and possibly distracting or confusing graphics.

Related Topics:
Ferdinand de Saussure - Professor - Multimedia - Microsoft PowerPoint - Edward Tufte

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