ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to encourage discussions of pedagogy by identifying advantages and disadvantages of lecturing and presenting variations of the lecture format that address some of its criticisms. Even with its negative press, lecturing has some endearing qualities. Lectures provide a framework for the presentation of considerable information efficiently. Efficiency and control issues may explain the common use of lecture at conferences. For courses, lectures may be attractive in at least two settings. First, in large classes, student-instructor interaction is inherently limited. Second, lecture may seem attractive when teaching a course for the first time. Many articles compare passive- and active-learning formats: Lectures allow listeners to be passive and thus less than fully engaged in the material. A new course typically comes with few handouts, group assignments, and labs to support active-learning formats.
