Why Have Lectures?

by Elio
 

Comenius, Orbis sensualium pictus. Source

Recently, I wrote an article called In Defense of the Lec­ture. It appeared in Resonance, a science education journal of the Indian Academy of Sciences. If you care to know what this is about, here is the first paragraph from the article.

When it comes to teaching, everyone is an expert, so why not me? Any amount of experience, large or small, guarantees that one will hold strong views. I am no exception. In the course of over 50 years, perhaps 20,000 students have had to listen to me, the majority of whom I probably bored, a few whom I may have stimulated. I have no formal training in pedagogy. With these dubious creden­tials, let me make a single point: Lectures are a vital aspect of university teaching.