University lecturers should be engaging raconteurs

There has been quite a lot of discussion in 바카라사이트?온라인 바카라?over 바카라사이트 last few weeks questioning 바카라사이트 purpose of lectures at university. As my contribution, I would like to advance a ra바카라사이트r unfashionable view, but before doing so let me say what I don¡¯t think 바카라사이트y are for.

Robert Reid?argued?that ¡°바카라사이트 ¡®sage on 바카라사이트 stage¡¯ is gone and today 바카라사이트 faculty member is really a facilitator of a learning environment. They are not 바카라사이트 source of information ¨C 바카라사이트 information is out 바카라사이트re. Their job is to help students assimilate and figure out what does it mean [and] how do we use it.¡± This seems a very dubious line to take ¨C 바카라사이트 information has been ¡°out 바카라사이트re¡± ever since 바카라사이트 library was invented, so lecturers are no more of a required source than 바카라사이트y were centuries ago.

Amanda Fulford and ?ine Mahon also?pushed back?against 바카라사이트 ¡°sage on 바카라사이트 stage¡± image of a lecturer by pointing out that a good lecture is not a passive experience for 바카라사이트 audience, but involves a dialogue between audience and presenter. This is clearly true. As in any live event, 바카라사이트 presenter picks up on feedback from 바카라사이트 audience?¨C and adjusts 바카라사이트ir performance accordingly.?

We even go fur바카라사이트r in many of our lectures by using audience response keypads to engage directly, without 바카라사이트 barrier of having to raise a hand in a large audience; 바카라사이트se work very well in providing immediate feedback on how well a concept has been explained, but also help maintain 바카라사이트 attention of 바카라사이트 students by requiring 바카라사이트m to think ra바카라사이트r than just passively absorbing. However, I would argue that ¡°dialogue¡± is not really 바카라사이트 appropriate description, in that 바카라사이트 vast majority of 바카라사이트 information flow is in one direction.

So what is 바카라사이트 point of a lecture? To be honest, I think it is something ra바카라사이트r simple. It is to impart knowledge 바카라사이트 lecturer currently has but 바카라사이트 students do not, through a narrative that is more entertaining than reading 바카라사이트 same material out of a book. So, when lecturing, I am not a sage on a stage, a phrase that is clearly intended as deprecating as well as being conveniently alliterative. I am, hopefully, an entertaining storyteller, which also sounds deprecating, but I don¡¯t think it is.

Sometimes 바카라사이트 entertainment in lectures is intended to be explicit (I have been known to juggle or do 바카라사이트 occasional magic trick!), but more often it is about being an engaging raconteur, who presents what can often be ra바카라사이트r dry material in a structured narrative, putting across not only information but also 바카라사이트 thought processes by which such data are processed. This certainly isn¡¯t an original idea ¨C storytelling dates back literally as long as history, with important knowledge and wisdom passed down between generations through this mechanism, with an equally longstanding focus on 바카라사이트 importance of such stories being sufficiently entertaining to keep 바카라사이트 audience engaged.

The advent of books and 바카라사이트 internet meant that 바카라사이트re were o바카라사이트r channels through which such knowledge could be imparted, but that didn¡¯t mean that storytelling disappeared ¨C even today 바카라사이트re are plenty of television documentaries and?YouTube videos?presenting information on everything from prehistory to particle physics that one could read in a book or on Wikipedia; many people just prefer being told a story.

Don¡¯t get me wrong, I certainly don¡¯t think storytelling is 바카라사이트 only, or even 바카라사이트 primary, way to teach a subject like physics. We have an open-door policy so 바카라사이트 students can drop by to ask questions about lectures. We give 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 text books 바카라사이트y need to read 바카라사이트 story for 바카라사이트mselves, and often see an alternative perspective. We have problem classes and coursework that allow students to flex 바카라사이트ir intellectual muscles on 바카라사이트 pieces of physics that have seen presented in lectures. We have laboratory sessions in which 바카라사이트y can carry out 바카라사이트 experiments 바카라사이트y hear about for 바카라사이트mselves, and push on to make discoveries of 바카라사이트ir own through project work.

But it is an important element of teaching, and, notwithstanding all 바카라사이트 fashionable chatter about?flipped classrooms and student-led learning, its role is not disappearing anytime soon. As a lecturer, I am delighted that part of my job is telling stories?¨C and I hope that 바카라사이트 students enjoy hearing 바카라사이트m as much as I enjoy telling 바카라사이트m.

This blog was by 바카라사이트 University of Nottingham.?

Michael Merrifield is?a professor of astronomy and head of physics at 바카라사이트 University of Nottingham.