Traditional lecturing asks a student to come prepared with paper and writing instrument for note taking. A student jots down important points from the lecture that he supplements with reading assignments. These are studied in preparation for tests and presentations. Since the human brain does not record information exactly, it processes important information in pieces, discarding the rest. A student may favor recording the lecture over note taking, as this gives him a chance to review information as it was delivered.
A study released by Georgia Tech University and Delft University revealed that offsetting live lectures with Web lectures shows an increase in student grades. Web lectures are essentially the same thing as a live lecture, but are broadcast over the Internet, which allows a student to view the lecture anywhere with an Internet connection. The study suggests that Web lectures allow a teacher to focus on more activity centered exercises and discussion during the allotted class time, and leave lecture topics for the Web presentation.
Active learning is a teaching technique that employs activities during the course of a lecture. For example, a teacher pauses three times throughout a lecture for a span of two minutes each to allow a student to organize notes, or finish writing an important point. This method helps the student retain more information. Another traditional method of active learning is class discussion. Encouraging students to discuss what they learned will solidify important points and give a student the time to ask questions.
Research studies concerning the attention spans of students found that on average, a student has an attention span of 15 to 20 minutes, but the average college class runs more than an hour. This, as well as other studies, has obligated instructors to change teaching methods. Teachers may now take a break to allow students' minds to rest, for example, or reserve the second half of class for an activity.