Research suggests that many students are disengaged at the university level. To combat this, Dr. Simon Brownhill from the School of Education considers how lecturers can activate traditional lectures with the intent of relieving student boredom and stimulating their learning, not just to entertain them.
Of the students who attend your taught classes, how many of them do you think are academically bored? 3%? 15%? Research by the publisher Wiley (2023) in The State of the Student 2022: Adjusting to the “new normal”…and all that comes with it (visit https://www.wiley.com/en-us/network/trending-stories/the-state-of-the-student-adjusting-to-the-new-normal-and-all-that-comes-with-it) found that 55% of undergraduates admitted they were ‘struggling to stay engaged and interested in their classes’; for graduate students, the figure was 38%. I was stunned the first time I came across these statistics: are nearly 2/5ths of the students I teach really bored in my master’s classes?
Despite there being a multitude of reasons for student boredom, the one that is frequently recognised relates to traditional lectures. These are typically categorised as the chalk-and-talk component of a unit or programme where the one-way transmission of course content from lecturer to student occurs. Even though they have been used for hundreds of years, there are numerous criticisms of traditional lectures, in part due to the passive method of learning that they characteristically promote. Joe Cuseo (2007) in The Empirical Case Against Large Class Size: Adverse Effects On The Teaching, Learning, And Retention Of First-Year Students (visit https://www.classsizematters.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Week-13-Cuseo-1.pdf) lists a number of problematic outcomes associated with the lecturing mode of instruction, several of which are of personal concern:
- Less active student involvement in the learning process,
- Reduced depth of student thinking inside the classroom,
- Lower levels of academic achievement (learning) and academic performance (grades) (original emphasis).
In more recent years, recommendations from international academic literature, research findings, professional bodies and students themselves have collectively advocated for a shift in instructional focus to include them in the learning process by embracing what is commonly referred to as ‘active learning’.
Active learning: the what
Advocated by prominent scholars such as John Dewey, David A. Kolb, and Jerome Bruner, active learning is based on a theory of learning called constructivism which emphasises learners constructing or building their understanding. With aspects of the nature of active learning being identified in the thinking of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, there is strong theoretical evidence to suggest that learning always involves action, be it physical or mental. Definitions-wise, it may come as a surprise that there is no generally accepted definition of the term, with examples varying in conceptual clarity across different fields. In the context of education, definitions range from simply describing active learning as learning by doing to any instructional method that engages students in the learning process. As an academic who is rooted in professional practice, I personally subscribe to the idea of active learning referring to the practical endeavours of lecturers that promote student engagement in the learning context; indeed, it is argued that learning at any level is a constructive process that requires active participation by both the teacher (lecturer) and the student. This can be achieved, in part, by activating traditional lectures with engaging activities and multiple rest periods, these purposefully helping to improve learning attitudes and assure higher levels of student attention/retention.
Activation: the how
There are copious ways in which lecturers can activate traditional lectures – readers are strongly encouraged to view the supplemental materials connected to the work of Emily Driessen and colleagues (2020; Demystifying the Meaning of Active Learning in Postsecondary Biology Education; visit https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.20-04-0068). In their paper What Makes Lectures ‘Unmissable’? Insights into Teaching Excellence and Active Learning, Andrea Revell and Emma Wainwright (2009; visit https://doi.org/10.1080/03098260802276771) suggest that activating traditional lectures ‘involves discussion, problem solving, presentations, group work such as buzz groups, brainstorming [thought showering], role plays, debates – anything that gets students interacting with each other and engaging with the lecture material’. I argue that lecturers need to ‘BE x 4’: be aware of what is available, activating-wise; be selective of the strategies that they use; be prepared to adapt these in response to the students they teach; and be mindful to incorporate them across the full lecture structure:
Prior to the start of the lecture
What do you think?: Display a key question relating to the focus of the lecture on your presentation or on a whiteboard for students to discuss as they enter and settle into the lecture space.
Introduction to the lecture
Trigger some thinking: Open with a ‘startling statement, unusual analogy, striking example, personal anecdote, dramatic contrast, powerful quote, short questionnaire … or mention of a recent news event’ (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Teaching Center, n.d., p.1; The Do’s and Don’t’s of Effective Lectures; visit https://www.scribd.com/document/260649611/Lectures) to trigger some student thought, be this internalised or externalised.
Main body of the lecture
Teaching each other: Working in pairs, get one student to summarise for the other the main points from a short article, extract, case study, scenario, or handout (selected sections/sources) that they have been given time to read either before the lecture (think flipped learning) or during the lecture.
Conclusion of the lecture
Game play: Engage students with a revision game based on the content of the lecture using well-known TV and radio game show formats such as Jeopardy, Just a Minute, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
It is important to stress that the practical endeavours of lecturers, activating-wise (as per the above), should not be designed with the intent of just entertaining students. Doug Johnson (2012), in his online article Engage or Entertain?(visit https://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/columnists/johnson/johnson026.shtml), asserts that ‘Entertainment’sprimary purpose is to create an enjoyable experience; engagement’s primary purpose is to focus attention so learning occurs’ (added emphasis). Whilst I am not adverse to students having an enjoyable experience, traditional lecture-wise (think smiles and laughter), the emphasis should always be on student learning, with the added intent of relieving student boredom and disengagement with their university studies at all levels.
This blog entry is based on an opinion piece which was published in THE Campus (15 August 2024; visit https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/relieve-student-boredom-activating-lectures). The ideas presented in this blog entry are developed in Large Lectures: Active instruction and ‘creative touches’ which serves as the opening chapter of Creative Practice in Higher Education: Engaging Adult Learners through Theory and Pedagogy, edited by Simon Brownhill (Routledge, 2025; visit https://www.routledge.com/Creative-Practice-in-Higher-Education-Engaging-Adult-Learners-through-Theory-and-Pedagogy/Brownhill/p/book/9781032634777).
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