Reimagining the lecture

The future of the Australian university lecture remains a contentious topic.

While lecture recordings and online formats enable broader access to higher education, declining in-person attendance is raising concerns about its impact on both staff and students’ morale.

What happened to the lecture?

There are many reasons why students listen to recordings rather than attend in person. Timetable conflicts, equity issues and health concerns often prevent attendance.

Additionally, the cost-of-living crisis forces many to prioritise work, while those living far from campus find commuting impractical when content is available online.

Post-COVID, the demand for flexible, personalised learning, or ‘lectures on demand’, has significantly altered attitudes towards higher education.

This shift has inadvertently led students to view lectures as an inconvenience or an ‘optional extra’, seemingly disconnected from assessment outcomes.

Our research data indicates that both in-person and online lecture attendance is declining.

Although one recent research paper found that the study mode of in-person or online does not meaningfully affect results, we maintain this trend is of concern for a number of reasons.

Knock-on effects of declining attendance

It is not simply that empty lecture theatres leave lecturers and the few students who turn up dispirited.

It is also having a detrimental effect on compulsory in-person tutorials, where students increasingly find themselves ill-equipped to participate fully in discussion or class activities.

Without adequate preparation, these sessions risk becoming perfunctory exercises that add little value to students’ educational experience.

Beyond this, there are reasons to think that reduced campus attendance is having a detrimental impact on the student experience and student well-being.

Attending lectures fosters a sense of community and belonging, increases success rates among students from disadvantaged backgrounds, and directly cultivates active listening, a crucial communication skill valued by employers.

While the lecture has been widely criticised as an ineffective form of teaching, much of this criticism fails to recognise that the lecture is not intended to stand alone, but forms part of a broader pattern which includes small-group teaching in tutorials.

In the humanities, where prescribed textbooks are less common, lectures provide the course narrative and are often carefully crafted to prepare students for what will be discussed in tutorials.

New approaches to university teaching

Some Australian universities and academics have responded by abandoning lectures entirely.

Instead, they’ve adopted seminars or workshops – a blend of lecture and tutorial activities delivered in classrooms rather than theatres – as an effective alternative.

Another approach involves reimagining lectures to be more interactive.

This has spurred the development of innovative teaching methods that encourage participation and active learning, with numerous successful examples already in practice.

While this represents a welcome departure from the traditional format, there are indications that this alone will not arrest the decline in attendance.

There is anecdotal evidence suggesting that academics trying to revitalise lectures often face student resistance when in-person initiatives don’t translate well for online attendees.

Discouraged by this pushback, innovative and passionate teachers who have trialled things have abandoned their efforts to make lectures more interactive.

So, where does this leave us?

Creating a more collaborative learning environment

Despite the challenges, in-person lectures still have a vital role to play in higher education. Rethinking how we facilitate more active student participation will undoubtedly be important.

But the issue is bigger than this.

What we require is a renewed commitment from university management, staff and students to develop a more collaborative learning environment in which students actively engage in both independent and group learning.

As education is a collaborative endeavour between teachers and students, success is shaped not only by academics and university leadership but also by students’ passion and commitment.

This article was written by Associate Professor Kristian Camilleri and Hugh Gundlach of the University of Melbourne. It was published by Pursuit.