Lecture Techniques

Lectures are a very important part of a student's life. In a lecture, a lot of information may be passed on to a lot of students at the same time, therefore it is important to be very attentive since most things said may not be repeated due to the amount of people around. If a lecturer was to repeat a sentence for each individual, little progress will be made. There are a few ways or techniques that may help in getting the most out of a lecture.

Reading ahead  is one way to prepare yourself towards a lecture, reading articles or books related to the topic being lectured helps prepare the mind. It allows you to get a better understanding of what the lecture may be about. This helps you from spending the first 5-10 minutes trying to figure out what the lecture is about.

Where you sit in a lecture is also another factor which may help determine how much you take in. I tend to look for any available seat as close to the lecturer as possible, if there aren't any seats at the front row, I look for seats a row or two away from the front row. The idea is, the closer I am to the lecturer, the less likely I am to be distracted by students movements in the lecture, I'll also hear exactly what the lecturer is saying better than most students sitting further away from the lecturer.

Note taking is another vital part of a lecturer, I try my best to write down what I feel may be important information in a lecturer, and leave out the less important ones. With the lecturer's permission, recording a lecture is also another good way to maximize your intake from a lecture, it allows you to go through everything the lecturer said and go over things you didn't get first time around. It is also important to put off mobile phones since they may distract you at a point when something important is being said.

Finally, going through the notes taken after a lecture,will help you remember the information better. By reflecting on your notes, you begin to remember exactly when the lecturer said what they said and the examples given in relation.All these are very good ways that help me get the most out of a lecture.

lecture technique

Lectures are one of the main ways I receive information on my course.  Lecture technique can be defined as how get the most out of a lecture.  In this blog I will outline what I think is a good lecture technique. 

The point of lectures is receive information that can be used later in assignments, and as revision for evaluations and examinations with each lecture helping you to understand every section of the subject and build up your understanding of the whole subject.

The following are several things that contribute greatly to having a good lecture technique. You should be actually at the lecture. Hearing the information yourself is always better than having to rely on someone else’s notes or any hand-outs given in the lecture but remember that hand-outs are only part of what the lecturer said in the lecture.  Be prepared to start as soon as the lecture starts so that you do not miss anything and have a pen and paper ready, it also helps to have read through previous notes or other reading so that you are more  familiar with the topic.  Pay attention and make notes if there is no hand-out so that you able to have recorded as much of the lecture as possible.  What I do is focus on writing down what is on the slides as well as what the lecturer has said. If there is a hand-out I can focus more on the detail of what the lecturer is saying.  Sometimes you can miss a point while writing down the previous one but that depends on how fast the lecturer is going in some lectures so you should listen to the recordings made of the lecture to get anything you missed.  If your notes are messy and difficult to read because of writing too fast go over them soon after the lecture and rewrite clearly while you can still remember the content.

In conclusion while there is quite a few to remember to do to get everything written in a lecture most of it is common sense that should not be that difficult to do and if you have good lecture technique you should be able to get the maximum information from the lecture.