Lectures

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Most of the subjects that are taught in face-to-face mode at university involve lectures, where you have a lecturer presenting an overview, outline or discussion of a topic to students. A lecturer may also ask questions of the audience or discuss topics during the lecture. More commonly, though, this happens in a tutorial.

Some subjects use teleteaching, where lectures are beamed to different campuses for students to view. Lectures can also be digitised for students to access on a computer.

Many lecturers will tell you that the chief function of the lecture is to stimulate learning. Generally, a lecture will give you an outline of an aspect of a topic. Even if you are getting a broad outline, remember it is only one (well-informed) person's view.

During lectures, you will be exposed to specialised ways of using spoken language to explore a subject. Learning about this form of communication will be valuable not only for when you are expected to give a presentation, but also for when you have to write about a topic.