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K-State Today

October 22, 2015

Architecture professor presents paper at national teaching conference

Submitted by Mick Charney

Mick Charney, associate professor of architecture and university distinguished teaching scholar, presented "Reclaiming the Lecture: Interpreting Students' Positive Perceptions of Large Lecture Classes" at the Lilly Conference on College and University Teaching and Learning, Oct. 15-18, in Traverse City, Michigan.

He argued that while the time-honored lecture teaching format remains the signature pedagogy of so many large introductory courses just exactly because it facilitates massive information transfers to multitudes of students, it has nevertheless been roundly condemned for its impersonal, passive and unengaging nature. Charney presented the results of a spring 2015 survey of several hundred K-State undergraduate students on their attitudes about large classes; and their responses indicate that they are not as adverse to such classes as one might suspect. From that data, he was able to suggest ways by which instructors can capitalize on students' positive perceptions of large classes and thereby reclaim the art of lecturing for a new age.