Education: Lecturing and New Tech

Another sign that the college lecture might be dying: Harvard University physics professor Eric Mazur is championing the "flipped classroom," a model where information traditionally transferred during lectures is learned on a student's own time, and classroom time is spent discussing and applying knowledge to real-world situations. To make it easy for professors to transition out of lecture mode, Mazur has developedLearning Catalytics, an interactive software that enables them to make the most of student interactions and maximize the retention of knowledge.
 Mazur said, college students don't learn by taking notes during a lecture and then regurgitating information. They need to be able to discuss concepts, apply them to problems and get real-time feedback. 
The program then helps create either multiple choice or "open-ended questions that ask for numerical, algebraic, textual, or graphical responses." Students then respond to these questions using electronic devices they're already bringing to class, like a laptop or smartphone.
Learning Catalytics was so successful in Mazur's physics classroom that it's being rolled out across Harvard, but it's also open to other users on an invitation-only basis. If this tech-based flipped classroom approach takes off, maybe we'll end up with a generation of students that retain what they've learned, long after the final is over. 


Passive lecturing is a mode of teaching used by many instructors at the college level. This style of educating entails students playing a non-active role in the classroom setting as they learn. In passive learning, the professor presents the material through lecture or presentation and the students listen and typically take notes on the information given.

What kinds of problems can arise in the passive learning environment and how do these issues affect student education?

QUALITY VS. QUANTITY

What is more important, the quality of material received or the quantity? A large quantity of material presented through passive lectures does have value, but if it can't be transitioned into a way a student can understand it, the quality of learning is significantly decreased. 

This differs from active learning because the students who learn better by having a chance to really think about the material and are challenged to discuss it or engage in problem solving, may have a better ability to understand it.

Issues with passive learning arise when students can't relate to the knowledge because they aren't actively thinking about it. Another issue is whether or not students are listening to the lecture or simply hearing it. Even if a lot of valuable material is offered through the lecture, if the material is not retained, it isn't helpful in fostering higher education because the knowledge doesn't get preserved in a student's long term memory. This also affects quality.

Depending on the professor, passive lectures may not be engaging and some students have difficulty paying attention and keeping an interest. While this is in no way the fault of the professor, it does affect both the quantity and quality of education. Interactive learning often increases quality as the material can be applied by the student through critical