Do we need to attend lectures?
大学生是否需要听讲座式课程？
At some point in our lives, most of us have attended a school or university lecture. These learning sessions give us some insightful nugget of knowledge or can be something we yawn through, trying to keep awake. Whatever our experience, lectures have been and still are the most common teaching method in education. But will they exist in the future?
在人生的某个阶段，我们大多数人都参加过学校或大学的讲座。这些讲座有的能带给我们一些有见地的知识，有的却会让人听了沉沉欲睡，哈欠连天。无论我们经历过怎样的讲座课程，这在过去是，现在仍然是教育中最普遍的教学方法。但将来还会是吗？
With the growth of the internet and so much information at our fingertips, you may think there is no need to gather together at a fixed location clutching a handful of textbooks. BBC journalist Matt Pickles, says "research has shown that students remember as little as 10 per cent of their lectures just days afterwards."
随着互联网的发展，动动手指就能获取到很多信息，你可能会认为没有必要聚集在一个固定的地点学习教科书。英国广播公司(BBC)记者马特·皮克尔斯表示：“研究表明，学生们几天后只记住了10%的课程。”
Professor Carl Wieman, who campaigns against the traditional lecture, felt talking at students and expecting them to absorb knowledge was not that effective so he introduced 'active learning' that encourages problem solving in small groups. He listens to them and guides their discussions. The result has been improved exam results. Other new alternatives to the lecture have included peer-to-peer learning and project-based learning that enable students to link up and work collaboratively on projects such as building a computer game.
反对传统讲课方式的卡尔·威曼教授认为，对学生照本宣科并指望他们吸收知识并不靠谱，因此他引入了“主动学习”的方式，鼓励通过分小组解决问题。他倾听并引导学生们的讨论。这种方法的成果体现为考试成绩的提高。其他的新教学方法包括点对点学习和专题导向学习，通过这两种学习方式，学生们能够共同学习和一起研究诸如创建一款电脑游戏之类的项目。
Sometimes the lecture room is not conducive to learning; a boring, colourless room is not necessarily an inspiring place for stretching the mind. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology two lecture rooms have been refitted to allow students to sit around small tables with screens showing animated simulations to help them visualise concepts.
有时教室不利于学习;这些枯燥无味的房间并不能让人振奋精神。麻省理工学院改造了两间教室，教室里配备了小桌子，桌子上有显示器，学生们可以通过此直观地理解概念。
But new learning methods can come at a high financial cost compared to the relatively cheap way of being taught face-to-face by an academic. The real issue according to Professor Dan Butin, founding dean of the school of education and social policy at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, is that "Academics put thousands of hours of work into their books and much less time into thinking about the effectiveness of their teaching style." But he says "the lecture has survived because research, not teaching, determines the success of a university and its academics."
但是，与相对便宜的由学者面对面授课的方式相比，新的学习方法可能要付出高昂的经济成本。马萨诸塞州梅里马克学院教育与社会政策学院的创始院长丹·布丁教授表示，真正的问题在于，“学者们花了数千小时的时间写书，却很少花时间去思考教学风格的有效性。”但他表示，“授课的方式之所以能够存活下来，是因为决定一所大学及其学术成就的是研究，而不是教学。”
So if research quality is a measure of a university's success and money is tight, then the lecture could be here for a little longer. How does that make you feel? How would you improve your lectures?
因此，如果学术研究质量是一所大学成功与否的衡量标准，加之在资金紧张的情况下，讲座式的授课可能还会持续一段时间。你感觉如何？你将如何改进授课方式？
词汇表
nugget of knowledge
有价值的知识
method
方式，方法
at our fingertips
唾手可得的，近在咫尺的
textbook
教科书
absorb
理解，掌握（知识、想法等）
effective
有效的
peer-to-peer
同学间交流的，互相分享（知识）的
project-based
专题式的（学习模式）
collaboratively
合作地
conducive
有益的，有帮助的
stretch the mind
拓展思维
simulation
模型
concept
概念，想法
face-to-face
面对面的
academic
大学老师，学者
effectiveness
有效性
research
研究