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Version 1.3 – Updated November 2024

Lectures

Overview

  • Influence: Lectures
  • Domain: Teaching Strategies
  • Sub-Domain: Instructional strategies
  • Potential to Accelerate Student Achievement: Likely to have a negative impact
  • Influence Definition: The use of lectures, typically in higher education, to larger groups of students where the instructor is directly presenting or speaking uninterrupted to a more passive audience.

Evidence

  • Number of meta-analyses: 4
  • Number of studies: 474
  • Number of students: 24,232
  • Number of effects: 815
  • Weighted mean effect size: -0.41
  • Robustness index: 4

Meta-Analyses

Meta-Analyses
Journal Title Author First Author's Country Article Name Year Published Variable Number of Studies Number of Students Number of Effects Effect Size
Dissertation Cohn USA A meta-analysis of the effects of teaching innovations on achievement in college economics 1985 Innovative teaching vs. traditional lectures in economics 48 0 48 -0.20
Conference paper Flaig, Heltemes, Lendermann, & Schneider Germany What's the use of lectures? A meta-analysis 2019 Lectures compared to other formats 67 8,336 408 -0.18
Higher Education Kozanitis & Nenciovici USA Effect of active learning versus traditional lecturing on the learning achievement of college students in humanities and social sciences: a meta-analysis.  2023 Lectures vs. active learning 104 15,896 104 -0.49
Conference paper Freeman, Eddy, McDonough, Smith, Okoroafor, Jordt, & Wenderoth USA Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics 2013 Lectures vs. active learning 255 0 255 -0.47
TOTAL/AVERAGE 474 24,232 815 -0.33
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