Who has pleasant thoughts when they think of the word “lecture”? I know I don’t. When I think of the word I have images of a dry professor standing at the front of a large lecture hall droning on in a monotone voice. Can you say “BORING”?

And it seems that I am not alone. The Washington Post recently published an article called “Colleges looking beyond the lecture” where it speaks of the lecture being under attack in higher education. It reports that John Hopkins University has dedicated this entire academic year to finding alternatives to the lecture in their science, math and engineering departments because they are worried that it is driving students away. I think this is great news! The lecture has its place but it also has many weaknesses.

In God of Adventure I dedicate an entire chapter to various teaching methods used in the Bible and one of those methods is the lecture, but I warn that it should not be overused (page 51-54).

To demonstrate this I created the Experience vs. Input Model to help understand the value of each type of teaching method as well as a table that shows the pros and cons. All of the Figures and Tables in my book are available for download for free on this website.

The lecture has its place but it is way too overused. Let’s embrace all of the teaching methods that are in the Bible, not just one of them.