Linda Nilson begins her chapter on lecture with this quote by philosopher Mortimer Adler: “Lecturing is the transfer of information from the notes of the lecturer to the notes of the student without passing through the minds of either” (p. 113).
With that quote in mind, consider the following scenario:
You are a new a faculty member at a community college. Among the courses you will be teaching is one that has been the domain of a long-time instructor who is retiring. You meet briefly with the instructor, who offers you a file folder of material, along with the “tip” that this material has been working just fine for the instructor and learners for years. Later you browse through the file and find a collection of long-winded lectures that, it appears, the instructor delivered as a monologue and without any discussion, class after class. You check recent evaluations of the course and notice many comments from students that they were bored and that they learned less than they had hoped. You also notice that historically the course has had a sizable number of students who drop it a few weeks into each semester.
You have an opportunity to turn this course around and make it more dynamic and valuable for learners. Think about the Adler quote and the ways it relates to what has been happening in this course. Consider what you can do to improve the content delivery in this scenario.
