Large College Lecture Halls: An Opportunity to Learn or Simply a Place to Sleep?

Gregory Micek

Lectures play a major role in the education of modern college students. Students learn the majority of their material in large lecture halls where college professors present approximately fifty to ninety minute lectures over the material in their course. Although students attend these lectures, they do not always pay attention. Some students come to classes because the professors keep attendance but spend the majority of their time in class on their laptops surfing the Internet or on Facebook. Other students fall asleep or end up doodling on their notes.

Students do not always pay attention in lectures because they lack stimuli to encourage them to focus. Other than using “clickers,” or handheld personal response systems that use infrared or radio waves, students rarely interact with the professors or with each other. The lectures are just a long period of time in which a large group of students listens to a qualified individual’s rendition of math, science, history, or any other academic subject. The students do not always pay attention to the professor, and they do not always retain the information.

According to the Washington Post, “[o]nce, all professors spent entire classes talking nearly nonstop while students furiously scribbled notes.” The Washington Post also notes that “a growing number of professors are abandoning that tradition” because “there are better ways to keep students focused and learning.” The same source mentions a professor named Edward F. Redish who memorized the names and faces of the 192 students in his class, actively calls on them during his lectures, and may also do an experiment or show a portion of a movie during class.

Overall, professors have been teaching college students in large lecture halls for a long time. These large lecture halls do not help students to learn the material through class participation, and many students do not focus in class and do not retain the information presented to them. Some professors have begun to help students participate in class and more easily learn the material by implementing teaching methods which are more focused on the individual and less on simply speaking to a faceless crowd.