Lectures

While lectures may be less popular in college classrooms than in decades past, they are still very popular between universities and the public. Consider the following examples.

Public lectures
"In our automated lives, we generate and interact with unprecedented amounts of data. This sea of information is constantly searched, catalogued, analyzed and referenced by machines with the ability to uncover patterns unseen by their human creators. These new insights have far reaching implications for our society. From our everyday presence online, to scientists sequencing billions of genes or cataloging billions of stars, to cars that drive themselves – this series of six lectures will explore how the confluence of humans, data and machines extends beyond science – raising new philosophical and ethical questions."

"Since September 1922, Steward Observatory has been hosting public evening lectures in astronomy. The lectures begin at 7:30 p.m. and are held in Room N210 of Steward Observatory, 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson. AZ 85721(unless otherwise noted.) Following all Monday evening talks, the Raymond E. White, Jr. Reflector in the historic Steward Observatory dome will be open for public viewing of the night sky (weather permitting). All of the lectures and the use of the telescope are free of charge and open to the general public."

Classroom lectures
"Lectures are a very common (I could safely generalize and say even the most common) method of teaching at the university level. This does not mean that there are no labs, seminars, discussion sessions, group projects etc. It only means that if we look at the academic schedule of most disciplines, the majority of the booked times are under the heading “lecture”. During these lectures, the teacher imparts information on a specific topic to a group of students. What happens is known as “information transfer”: the teacher shares her knowledge with the students, who take notes and can ask questions whenever something is not clear. At the end of the session, the teacher and the students are in possession of the same amount and quality of information about the specific topic – the transfer of information has been completed."