Revisiting Donald Bligh in the 21st century
Dave Laughton
Sheffield Business School
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“Donald Bligh first published ‘What’s the Use of
Lectures’ in 1972. Bligh outlined both the
problems of using lectures in teaching and
learning as well as some of the potential of this
mode of instruction. But how has our practice
responded to this pioneering work? In this
session I will explore the notion of ‘boredom in
the lecture theatre’ and introduce some pod
casts with students reflecting on their lecture
experiences. This will lead to a general
discussion of how we can design and structure
lectures for educational impact within the context
of the overall pedagogical approach of modules.”
14th century image of a school, from
Wikipedia
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“Scholastic schools had two methods of
teaching. The first was the lectio: a teacher
would read a text, expounding on certain
words and ideas, but no questions were
permitted; it was a simple reading of a text:
instructors explained, and students listened
in silence.”
Wikipedia
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“The second was the disputatio, which goes right to
the heart of scholasticism. There were two types of
disputationes: the first was the "ordinary" type,
whereby the questions (quaestiones) to be disputed
were announced beforehand; the second was the
quodlibetal, whereby the students proposed a
question to the teacher without prior preparation.
The teacher advanced a response, citing authoritative
texts to prove his position. Students then rebutted
the response, and the quodlibetal went back and
forth. Someone took notes on what was said, allowing
the teacher to summarise all arguments and present
his final position the following day, riposting all
rebuttals.”
Wikipedia
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Universities now research and study a huge
number of subjects – not just religion – are
lectures universally useful as a teaching
approach?
Pedagogical competition – from experiential
learning, activity-based learning, student
centred learning, transformational learning
etc
“Boredom in the lecture theatre” – attention
spans in the digital age
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Lectures as effective as other methods for
teaching information but no more effective;
forty studies reviewed suggested that
unsupervised reading is better than lecturing
Lectures ineffective in stimulating higher
order thinking
Lectures cannot be relied upon to inspire or
change students’ attitudes favourably
Students like really good lectures, but as a
rule prefer groupwork
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"The findings suggest that 59% of students
find at least half their lectures boring with
30% claiming to find most or all of their
lectures boring" p253.
Student coping strategies (rank order):
daydream, doodle, switch off, colour in
letters on the handout, talk to next person,
text, write notes to friend etc.
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Rank order boredom ratings of teaching
methods:
Lab work
Computer sessions
Online lecture notes
Copying overheads in lectures
Powerpoint without handout
Workshops
Video presentations
Group work outside of lectures
Powerpoint with handout
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Do we need lectures at all – should we just
get rid of them?
If we have them could they be 30 rather than
60 minutes long?
Can they be a small part of an integrated
lecture/seminar approach
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Could they be less about ‘transmitting’
knowledge and more about:
◦ Exploring a problem
◦ Telling a story
◦ Mapping the intellectual landscape around a
particular issue/topic
◦ Edutainment
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Could they be made truly interactive?
Could they avoid the use of Powerpoint (the
weapon of mass instruction)?
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Feedback to students and lecturer is needed
Rehearsal (in the lecture) is needed
Encourage deep processing
Reduce the intensity with self-pacing
Active learning (in the lecture) is better
Maintain high levels of attention
Foster motivation by activity
Accept and use human nature - small group
discussions are natural
Teach thought and feeling via discussion
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How do you design lectures to maximise
student learning?
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Bligh, D. (1998) "What's the Use of Lectures?",
Intellect, Exeter, England.
Mann, S. and Robinson, A. (2009) "Boredom
in the Lecture Theatre: an Investigation into
the Contributors, Moderators and Outcomes
of Boredom Amongst University Students",
British Educational Research Journal, vol. 35,
No. 2, April 2009, pp. 243-258.