Is the lecture style of teaching dead?

The evolution of education and the role of the teacher and student has changed much throughout the years, especially for those within the higher education institutions, however, there are still many variations within higher education institutions to those who teach from a liberal perspective and those who are seen as being more progressive and meeting the modern students’ needs. One such liberal perspective of education that is embedded within higher education institutions is that of imparting information via various lecture formats with the student(s) being passive in this process while the lecturer speaks or has someone else speak (Dyson, 2008). Despite the development of new approaches to teaching and learning in higher education, lectures remain a prominent feature of many courses. The lecturers are the source of information while students must remember what the lecturer says (Newton et al, 1999). It is estimated that approximately 80% of talk time is taken up by the teacher and thus, the teacher controls what happens in the classroom (Wertsch & Toma, 1995). Within the United Kingdom and throughout the world, despite research on how the human brain gathers, filters, process, retain and understand information that is presented to the human brain being lectured while being passive is still seen as the most common method of teaching (Bligh, 2000). According to Horgan (2003) lecturers, those who are liberal in their outlook to education, state that lectures are still the best and most convenient way for imparting information, indications suggest that as much as 80 to 90% of higher education classes are devoted to lecture formats (Gray & Madson, 2007; Horgan, 2003). There are concerns regarding the use and value of the lecture as a teaching strategy higher specifically whether students gain knowledge or learn sufficiently from the lecture with students questioning their use (Struyven et al, 2008). Interestingly students’ perceptions of a lecture-style differ depending upon the course they are taking. Leeds, Stull, and Westbrook (1998) reported students who study subjects like economics, management and accounting prefer the lecture method in introductory economics, management, and accounting as they believed that they learned more through lectures. The findings correlate with those of Baldwin (1993) who found that students who were taught introductory financial accounting using the lecture performed better than those taught using active learning. This preference for a lecture-style is inconsistent within the research as by McClanahan and McClanahan (2000) who indicated that in one class the majority (64%) preferred active learning methods. Interestingly a vast number of sports students in higher education require kinaesthetic movement to become engaged in learning (Tranquillo, 2008) or attention, focus, engagement, and motivation reduce, and they become disengaged (Willis, 2006; Martin & Murtagh, 2015). It has been suggested by Tranquillo (2008) that 45-85% of sports students are kinaesthetic in nature, where active learning is a preferred choice in a student’s ability to learn. In general, Huxman (2005) mentions that students have a love or hate relationship with lecture-style formats stating that students who find them boring find different ways not to attend them. It is also suggested by Grey and Mason (2007) that a lecturer can witness if their students are liking or hating lectures by looking at the blank looks, tied expression or that the students are fidgeting and finding ways not to be involved within the lecture. With this said Fry et al (1996) suggested that students whose performance is below average may be used to passive learning and even though research suggests a lecture format to be weak in respect to the learning process its tradition and widely accepted instructional method of teaching is deemed by many as being the staple and important way of learning within the classroom (Moore 2009).

However, within this traditional way of teaching and along with the passive nature expected of the students seen in many higher education classrooms there is an additional cost to the students who participate in lecture formats and that is while the lecture is being presented the student is general seated. Research by Castro et al (2020) and Felez-Nobrega et al (2018) suggest higher education students spend an average of 9.8 to 10.7 waking hours each day in sedentary activities, whereas Buckworth & Nigg, (2004) suggest this sedentary time is about 30 hours per week. According to researchers like Craig et al, (2004); Pekrun, et al (2002) and Shernoff & Csikszentmihalyi, (2003) that being sedentary and inactive while being presented with information in a lecture format significantly reduces the amount of attention, arousal and motivation students express while at the same time increases the boredom students experience. It has been suggested through extensive research that neurochemicals that keep students calm, focused, attentive, and are in limited supply at each synapse and depletion can occur after as little as 10 minutes if the students remain passive and bored as well as 90% of the oxygen in your body and brain become stale unless there is movement at around 10-20 minutes (Jensen,2008). All of these elements potentially make the students' satisfaction and personal experiences of the classroom lecture as well as to the higher education institution negative one if they are finding lecture stressful. The main purpose of a lecture is to build a bridge between what the student already knows and the structures of the subject matter (Horgan, 2003) with lectures expecting students to learn and change as a result of teaching (Martin & Lueckenhausen, 2005) even though students are reporting that sitting passively for 50 to 75 minutes in one location while being lectured to/at is increasing students boredom and reducing their attention time, and motivation which is leading to a student(s) not turning up for the lectures (Grey & Madson, 2007). The lecture is one of the oldest and, maybe still, the most widely used teaching methods in educational institutions. It has been a primary component in the teaching and learning programmes in higher education since the very early days of higher education (Bligh, 2000; McKeachie, 1986). Given the increasing funding pressures facing higher education worldwide, the lecture will more than likely continue to be used extensively in higher education for many years to come (Laurillard, 1993; Bates, 2000). None less It is imperative that lectures meet all Stundists needs and to make them as effective as possible there must be acceptance and integration of up-to-date research on the best way higher education students learn. One such implementation that meets the traditional lecture format but incorporates up to date classroom research is that of manipulating breaks in the classroom, with how many, how long, when they are and what is carried out during them (Coffeng et al, 2019).