The Compleat Lecturer – or, the quintessence of
traditional lecturing
Bruce G Charlton
Professor Bruce G Charlton
School of Psychology
Newcastle University
NE1 7RU
England
e-mail: bruce.charlton@ncl.ac.uk
Abstract
The primacy of lectures in providing a framework of
knowledge and understanding for most students in most types of
undergraduate-level study has been recognized in universities and colleges for
many hundreds of years; and nothing substantive has happened to challenge this
primacy. I set-out a plausible rationale for the effectiveness of
lecturing, based upon assumptions regarding human nature and evolved
psychology. Then, based upon this
framework, I discuss some principles of good lecturing; with reference to the
lecturer’s art and craft, implications for design of courses and lecture
theatres, and the responsibilities of teaching administrators and the lecture
audience. My conclusion is that – properly done – lecturing is potentially a
first-rate method of teaching; rewarding both for lecturer and lectured-to. And,
if there is a single word that encapsulates the essence of that in which
lectures excel; the word is ‘explaining’.
The full 5,500 word essay can be found at:
