How long do you like your lectures?

Hi,

I've been watching some online lectures recently. Even when the subject is something I am very interested in, I find myself bored after a while. Generally, I find the pace of the lectures painfully slow and if I had the lecture slides or notes of the teacher (if it's a good instructor, that is), I'd be going at a much faster pace.

I find it funny how my view on "going to university" has changed from a few years back. I had this naive perception - the kind that can be easily attained by going through the webpages of universities - that I'd be going for the "fantastic lectures" by "famous researchers/professors". Now, the main reasons behind going to university is finding a group of peers with whom I can bounce ideas off, go through problem sets together and discuss things related to my subject. There's also the social aspect (meeting new people) and seeing new places.

Anyway, my preferred length for lectures would be around 30 minutes.

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Reply 1

xoxAngel_Kxox

All of ours were two hours, and I wished they were only one, as I felt I was missing out on vital information due to the fact I would switch off after the first maybe 80 minutes. But having said that, if they were only one hour, we would have had to come into uni more often to do the same amount of material, so I guess there are positives and negatives.

Reply 2

Aspiringlawstudent

However long is necessary. If the topic is simple, explain it and then end it.

If its more complex, keep going until you're finished.

Ideally, if the topic is simple enough that you could explain it in less than an hour, don't bother with a lecture at all and just tell me where I can find it in a book.

Reply 3

bruce_t89

One hour.

My lectures were 2 hours which were painfully long. I just switch off after the first half.

Although, it will depend on the subject. My one has long winded discussions/theories so it will normally take 2 hours to get through it all.

Reply 4

jojayne

I haven't started yet but I have really short attention span. I remember in one of the example English lectures on an open day, the lecturer had such a monotonous voice. But she was actually talking about something really interesting, but I ended up just doodling on campus maps, and hardly took anything in. It was 45 minutes long I think :colondollar:

But I think maybe two hours with a short break in between maybe?

Reply 5

Strangey

The vast majority of mine were an hour long, but I'd have 2-3 hours per day every day, so it built up after a while. I'm guessing it's just something that you get used to.

Generally, the lectures in the arts & humanities subjects tend to go on for longer, but there are less of them, with the opposite being true for the sciences.

Reply 6

tillytots

An hour. I had one two hour lecture during my second term and i turned up three times out of 12. It was just too painful.

Reply 7

Nirgilis

I'll be the only one to say I enjoyed going to lectures then? :tongue:

. While mine were only an hour long, there were roughly 25 in a week, so it was easy to switch off during the 7pm lectures and the Friday lectures. However, when everybody around you is scribbling away, it seems you're obliged to also be scribbling away, so there was some motivation there, even if it's just for the competition and not due to lecture enjoyment (yeah, cool, I know) :lol:

Reply 8

Axion

Depends on my mood:

If I'm busy & cant be bothered because the topic is cr*p then I like them 0 minutes long

If I can actually be bothered (rare), then 90 minutes is long enough

Reply 9

whyumadtho

For interesting modules I prefer two hours; for everything else, one.

Reply 10

GoodbyeTSR

First 5 minutes or so.

Reply 11

Herr

LOL... wait till you guys join an executive MBA program where lectures go from 9am to 5pm :biggrin:

Anyway, I quite like the 9-5 classes, usually goes along the lines of :-

9-11 : Lecture on the topic
11:15-11:30 : Break.
11:30-1 : Tutorial and case study.
1-1:45 : Lunch break.
2-2:30 : Presentation on case study.
2:30-3:30 : Lecture on a different topic.
3:30-3:45 : Break + reading time for case study.
4-5 : Seminar on case study + presentation.

5pm, some of us go back to office while some of us head home.

Reply 12

michael clayton

Ours are only 50 mins but I tend to switch off half way through. There's not really a case for shortening them as we wouldn't cover the content so overall i'd say that's about right.

Reply 13

username839699

Original post by Herr

LOL... wait till you guys join an executive MBA program where lectures go from 9am to 5pm :biggrin:

I wouldn't be able to bear two hours of lecture, unless it was interactive. The 9-5 model looks pretty cool though, because there's more than just lectures. A little like school.

Reply 14

roh

1-1 and a half hours is usually alright.

At my home uni the max is 1 and a half which is fine but my year abroad had some 3 hour non stop and by the end of them I just wasn't taking anything in.

Reply 15

Leicestergrad11

Record them on your phone and listen back to them later

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 16

Vitamin D

All of mine are an hour long at the moment, which I think is fine. I think once I go back though (into second year) I have a 2 hour economics one once a week :frown:

Reply 17

georgia

I actually preferred my two hour ones last year. Instead of a lecture hour and seminar hour they merged the two together and we basically had a two hour seminar but one where the tutor contributed too. So much more interesting and allows you to get into more issues than the separate lecture/seminars do.

Reply 18

Kelly1987

My lectures are 4 hours long. With 10 min breaks each hour!

Reply 19

fretter778

My lectures are only 50 minutes long, but there can be quite a few in a day, or a couple in a row. One of my professors gave us a 1 minute break halfway through the ones he did, and it was surprising how effective that was in concentrating for the second part!