第1465期:Do we need to attend lectures?

At some point in our lives, most of us have attended a school or university lecture. 

在我们生活中的某个时刻，我们大多数人都参加过学校或大学的讲座。

These learning sessions give us some insightful nugget of knowledge or can be something we yawn through, trying to keep awake. 

这些学习课程为我们提供了一些有见地的知识，或者可以成为我们打哈欠的东西，试图保持清醒。

Whatever our experience, lectures have been and still are the most common teaching method in education. 

无论我们的经验如何，讲座一直是并且仍然是教育中最常见的教学方法。

But will they exist in the future?

但它们将来会存在吗？

With the growth of the internet and so much information at our fingertips, you may think there is no need to gather together at a fixed location clutching a handful of textbooks.

随着互联网的发展和如此多的信息触手可及，您可能认为没有必要聚集在一个固定的位置，手里拿着几本教科书。

 BBC journalist Matt Pickles, says "research has shown that students remember as little as 10 per cent of their lectures just days afterwards."

BBC 记者马特·皮克斯说：“研究表明，几天后学生只记得他们讲课的 10%。”

Professor Carl Wieman, who campaigns against the traditional lecture, felt talking at students and expecting them to absorb knowledge was not that effective so he introduced 'active learning' that encourages problem solving in small groups. 

反对传统讲座的 Carl Wieman 教授认为，与学生交谈并期望他们吸收知识并不是那么有效，因此他引入了鼓励小组解决问题的“主动学习”。

He listens to them and guides their discussions. The result has been improved exam results. 他倾听他们的意见并指导他们的讨论。结果是提高了考试成绩。

Other new alternatives to the lecture have included peer-to-peer learning and project-based learning that enable students to link up and work collaboratively on projects such as building a computer game.

讲座的其他新选择包括点对点学习和基于项目的学习，使学生能够在诸如构建计算机游戏之类的项目上联系和协作。

Sometimes the lecture room is not conducive to learning; a boring, colourless room is not necessarily an inspiring place for stretching the mind. 

有时讲堂不利于学习；一个乏味、无色的房间不一定是一个鼓舞人心的地方。

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology two lecture rooms have been refitted to allow students to sit around small tables with screens showing animated simulations to help them visualise concepts.

在麻省理工学院，两个演讲室已经过改造，让学生可以坐在小桌子旁，屏幕上显示动画模拟，以帮助他们形象化概念。

But new learning methods can come at a high financial cost compared to the relatively cheap way of being taught face-to-face by an academic. 

但是，与相对便宜的由学者面对面教授的方式相比，新的学习方法可能会付出高昂的经济成本。

The real issue according to Professor Dan Butin, founding dean of the school of education and social policy at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, is that "Academics put thousands of hours of work into their books and much less time into thinking about the effectiveness of their teaching style."

马萨诸塞州梅里马克学院教育和社会政策学院的创始院长丹·布廷教授认为，真正的问题是“学者们在书本上投入了数千小时，而思考教学有效性的时间却少得多。风格。” 

 But he says "the lecture has survived because research, not teaching, determines the success of a university and its academics."

但他说，“讲座之所以能够幸存下来，是因为研究而不是教学决定了大学及其学者的成功。”

So if research quality is a measure of a university's success and money is tight, then the lecture could be here for a little longer.

因此，如果研究质量是衡量一所大学成功与否的标准，而资金紧张，那么讲座可能会在这里持续一段时间。

 How does that make you feel? How would you improve your lectures?

那让你感觉如何？你会如何改进你的讲座？

词汇表

nugget of knowledge 有价值的知识
method 方式，方法
at our fingertips 唾手可得的，近在咫尺的
textbook 教科书
absorb 理解，掌握（知识、想法等）
effective 有效的
peer-to-peer 同学间交流的，互相分享（知识）的
project-based 专题式的（学习模式）
collaboratively 合作地
conducive 有益的，有帮助的
stretch the mind 拓展思维
simulation 模型
concept 概念，想法
face-to-face 面对面的
academic 大学老师，学者
effectiveness 有效性
research 研究