Did I miss anything? Students and university lectures

As a cultural object, the university lecture has withstood the passage of time despite challenges to its value. This paper reports on results from student based studies in the School of Psychology, Social Work & Social Policy, focused on perceptions about the university lecture. It emphasises that certain factors support students’ learning from lectures whereas others obstructs this. It also uncovers a range of reasons for first year students attending lectures or staying away and their use of online resources. Based on these research outcomes, other findings from the literature and reflections about these sources of data, the paper makes some suggestions about how processes surrounding the lecture could be adjusted to better support current first year students to become better engaged in their learning. As well, it suggests that developing self-efficacy is important to both current learning and to students’ future professional practice in social work, psychology and other human service. Relevant literature shows that in general, university students appear less engaged in their learning than in the past but they also have firmer expectations about what they want from lectures and other learning processes. Students are also ‘time poor’ as many hours of paid work and other responsibilities mean they may question the need to attend lectures at all especially if teaching and learning processes do not capture their interest. As a consequence, lecturers may feel increasing pressure to attract students’ attendance by employing a range of other media. Literature from Australia and other countries however, critiques the value of both traditional and more innovative approaches to lecturing in universities.