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Comment by gchallen | Hacker News Reader

You're describing your response to a performance, not to a learning opportunity. Is it fun to watch a great performer? Sure. Is that an effective way to learn? No.

Does lecturing have a place in disseminating ideas? Sure. I love that scene from Oppenheimer when he attends Heisenberg's lecture, being exposed to cutting edge ideas directly from the mouth of a truly remarkable professor. Watching that gave me a better appreciation of lecturing's original purpose and historical importance. But that's very different from teaching well-understood concepts and skills.

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I'm not sure about your experience but most of my professors would teach classes tangentially related to their field of expertise. So we were almost always exposed to the "well-understood concepts and skills" alongside what was cutting edge in their niche at the time.

It was subtle, but easy enough to pick up on if you were being attentive in class..

> Is that an effective way to learn? No.

Sorry, but I must disagree. There is much more to learning process than just the material itself. We are social animals, so the emotional aspect matters to the majority of us. Highly technical fields are not an exception. The attitude of the lecturer and his reaction to the questions from the audience, sidetrack discussions -- it all counts. At least to me and the people I have known.

At the same time, lectures of those with no charisma is a real torture, no doubt about that.

A group of people sitting together listening to one person talk are not socializing. Once one person stops monopolizing their collective attention, then they can socialize. The more effective alternatives to lecture bring learners into more engaged contact with each other.

Very narrow concept of socializing. Being in a classroom together is already a signal of group inclusion. Having a collective experience to relate with each other later is part of socialization.

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