Talking during lectures, your opinion?

[Unity+]

So, one day during a lecture, a fellow student asked if I could help him with a particular concept. Since lectures go by fast and he didn't want to forget to ask the question, I decided to help. We were whispering of course and no one else seemed to find it distracting. However, another fellow student(to my knowledge) got angry that we were whispering. We stopped of course to respect his request, but I think it is dumb for such a request. For one thing, the professor has never called out on doing so because everyone could hear the professor and was distracted by us whispering to the point that we could barely each other and no one else has. Is it just that they finally got tired of it? Was it just that day when a person wasn't in a good mood and decided to tell us to be quiet? The course syllabus doesn't say anything about no talking besides respecting other students.

 

Also, what is your stance on this? Should students be able to converse(quietly) about the concepts if they need help? You can argue that they can ask the teacher, but with limited time it seems the more efficient route. I didn't think it was a problem since we were discussing the topic and we(as I know of) haven't been a distraction to the other students.

Edited September 24, 2014 by Unity+

[Arete]

During a lecture is not an acceptable time to have a conversation. If your friend was having trouble with the course material and you were prepared to help, the time to do it is AFTER the class. The student having the issue could quite easily have written a quick note to remind them of the question they had.

 

As a lecturer - it's somewhat disrespectful and rude to the person giving the class to hold a private conversation while I'm trying to teach. At the same time I'm there to teach the class biology, not manners, so I'll generally ignore it unless a) you're disrupting the class and preventing other students from concentrating or hearing - in which case I will ask you to be quiet or take the conversation outside; or b) you miss the lecture material and ask for special treatment, at which point you will be told to pay attention in class next time.

 

Obviously, since you were asked to be quiet by another student, your conversation was disruptive, who was completely in the right to tell you to be quiet.

[Greg H.]

My tactic for dealing with people talking while I was lecturing was to stop talking, and wait. And wait. Occasionally, I'd walk around and sit down next to them., and quetly wait for them to notice that everyone in the room was now staring at them.

 

I rarely had to do it twice in one semester.

 

The second time I usually invited the persons involved to continue their discussion in the hallway.

On their way to the registrar's office.

With a drop form.

[Strange]

Yep. One of my lecturers would throw out anyone who talked in class. Sometimes permanently.

 

Quite right too. If you don't want to listen to the lecture, leave the room.

[Hendrick Laursen]

Well, I could get angry it I were the lecturer.

But, it's not that serious a problem.

I used to help my friend when the teacher was teaching in school, especially on Math.

Perhaps the fellow was tired.

[Unity+]

Yep. One of my lecturers would throw out anyone who talked in class. Sometimes permanently.

 

Quite right too. If you don't want to listen to the lecture, leave the room.

Well, the thing is other people talk during the lecture and the professor does nothing about it, so I assume it is okay if it is about the topic and it is for merely a second or so. Some of my professors indirectly encourage chat about the topic(especially in computer science). I can understand if someone is being obnoxiously loud, but what was happening was neither disruptive to a majority, or even all, the students nor was it off topic.

[timo]

But you have to admit that experimental evidence suggests it was disruptive to at least one student. To the point that he even bothered to complain (most people will just remain silent despite being annoyed). I wouldn't say that there has to be complete silence all the time - some level of interaction may indeed be appropriate. But I do not quite see how the amount of fellow students disturbed should play a role, except that "zero" would of course be an acceptable number.

[Unity+]

But you have to admit that experimental evidence suggests it was disruptive to at least one student. To the point that he even bothered to complain (most people will just remain silent despite being annoyed). I wouldn't say that there has to be complete silence all the time - some level of interaction may indeed be appropriate. But I do not quite see how the amount of fellow students disturbed should play a role, except that "zero" would of course be an acceptable number.

I recognize that people might find it annoying even not calling it out, but it has been 4 weeks since we have had these lectures and no one has said anything about it. I know everyone should be taken into perspective when considering the matter, but the amount of whispering was low and there were other students talking, yet we are the ones this particular person gets angry at.

[CharonY]

I am not sure what you try to argue here. Whether other students were talking or not, it is rude to the lecturer. Evidently at least one person got annoyed by what you did. Do you mean to say that he/she has no right getting annoyed and you should be able to talk happily through class?

 

Other have already commented how discussing things after class would be the proper way.

[Unity+]

I am not sure what you try to argue here. Whether other students were talking or not, it is rude to the lecturer. Evidently at least one person got annoyed by what you did. Do you mean to say that he/she has no right getting annoyed and you should be able to talk happily through class?

 

Other have already commented how discussing things after class would be the proper way.

Some of my professors, especially my math professor, actually enjoys it when people jump in and talk about the problem. It sometimes even turns into a group discussion that is beneficial for all the students. His philosophy is "You guys are the ones learning the content, I am simply guiding you."

 

I'm not arguing that the student has no right to be annoyed. Everyone has the right to be annoyed about anything. I am arguing whether or not lectures should have students whispering(in a very short amount of time) about a particular concept. I am arguing that it may be beneficial due to lecture time and the fact that it may be more difficult for the student to try to understand the concept after class than to try to understand after class, since they are focusing on the material that was last discussed. This is why I created the topic: to have the debate of whether it should be allowed in a lecture. In my opinion, having too strict of class room setting inhibits the student learning ability, at least from what I have experienced. It's that balance between being too talkative and having no discussion at all. If you aren't able to discuss the content while in the class as a group, what do you lean? You can argue that you can discuss it with the professor, but then it becomes a problem of whether all the students could benefit from the discussion.

 

EDIT: Let me clarify that the guy never confronted us about it. The friend of the guy who I was helping said that he thinks the guy next to him is getting angry about it. I don't know if he actually was angry at us.

Edited September 24, 2014 by Unity+

[Phi for All]

A lecture has a single speaker. If the speaker throws it open for others to join in, then it isn't a lecture anymore. And if they're taking questions during the lecture rather than after, it's still not the time to help someone else with the coursework.

 

Why would you pay to listen to a lecture from a more knowledgeable person, and then talk through it? This is your time to listen. I'd be angry if you wasted my time and money distracting me from my lecture.

 

There's a special level of Hell for people who talk at the theater, with a roped-off section for loquacious lecture lovers.

[Unity+]

Why would you pay to listen to a lecture from a more knowledgeable person, and then talk through it? This is your time to listen.

But we didn't talk(whisper) through the whole lecture, it was merely a few seconds of it. We paid attention to the lecture itself. I thought I clarified this. And if the guy found it disruptive, if I knew the guy I would go up to him and sincerely apologize to him.

Edited September 24, 2014 by Unity+

[Ophiolite]

Bottom line it is rude. And stupid. And inefficient. Did I mention rude?

 

I find it enormously disruptive to the point where I am listening to their conversation and not what I am saying. At that point I adopt GregH's approach and stop talking and look at the offenders. Silently, until they too are silent. It is a rare occasion when anything more than this is needed.

 

Did I mention that it is rude?

[Strange]

But we didn't talk(whisper) through the whole lecture, it was merely a few seconds of it. We paid attention to the lecture itself. I thought I clarified this. And if the guy found it disruptive, if I knew the guy I would go up to him and sincerely apologize to him.

 

You upset at least two people: the one who was annoyed enough tell you to stop and the lecturer (who, perhaps, was too polite to do so). Plus an identified number of others sitting there silently thinking, "why don't they shut the **** up".

 

Perhaps you and your friend should stand up at the start of the next lecture and apologise to everyone present before sitting down at opposite sides of the room.

[Unity+]

 

You upset at least two people: the one who was annoyed enough tell you to stop and the lecturer (who, perhaps, was too polite to do so). Plus an identified number of others sitting there silently thinking, "why don't they shut the **** up".

 

Perhaps you and your friend should stand up at the start of the next lecture and apologise to everyone present before sitting down at opposite sides of the room.

The guy who told us wasn't upset, he was just informing us of the guy who allegedly was angry(he was whispering during the lecture as well).

 

I think the professor would get upset for wasting lecture time for doing that.

 

EDIT: I wasn't intentionally trying to piss people off, I just want to say that.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Unity+

[Ophiolite]

I think the professor would get upset for wasting lecture time for doing that.

Then he is a crap Professor. It would take fifteen seconds. "Professor, I wanted to apologise to you and the class on behalf of Peter and myself for disrupting yesterday's lecture with our whispering. It will not happen again."

[ajb]

Asking questions and making comments directed at the lecturer should be okay. I always tell my students that they can ask me questions during the lecture. Maybe at some point if I got too many I would divert them to the examples class. Talking with other students, using your phone or laptop is a bit rude and can be distracting for both the lecturer and the other students.

 

If you have a question that you would like to discuss with another student, and that is really great as students should talk to each other, just make a note of it for after the lecture. You can always ask the lecturer if he has some "office hours" so that you could discuss things directly with in.

 

This year the first part of my lecture will be on lecture room etiquette!

[imatfaal]

I once spoke for about five minutes on my phone in front of a class; after the third or fourth student's phone had gone off I sat down dialled a number and had a chat - the message was soon understood.

 

1. Ask a question as soon as I am not clear in what I am saying

2. Don't ask a question in order to expand on a neat idea you've just had - that's what seminars and the bar are for.

3. Don't chat - someone will be disrupted

4. Set mobile to off.

 

The quid pro quo is ideally that the lecturer will often be in the bar and will then expand till you really really want him to shut up on any point.

[ajb]

 

This video springs to mind!

[Unity+]

Asking questions and making comments directed at the lecturer should be okay. I always tell my students that they can ask me questions during the lecture. Maybe at some point if I got too many I would divert them to the examples class. Talking with other students, using your phone or laptop is a bit rude and can be distracting for both the lecturer and the other students.

 

If you have a question that you would like to discuss with another student, and that is really great as students should talk to each other, just make a note of it for after the lecture. You can always ask the lecturer if he has some "office hours" so that you could discuss things directly with in.

 

This year the first part of my lecture will be on lecture room etiquette!

The weird thing is apparently my university's policy seems to be completely different than those of ones the users keep talking about.

 

A majority of the professors promote technology use in the classroom, especially since many of the texts are electronic and must of the course work is contained online. Also, the professor in computer science especially encourages it if he wants us to test example code in the class, which was what was happening when I was helping the student next to me with. He was trying to figure out what was wrong with his code and I was just correcting the code for him.

 

It might be that the colleges have changed policy over the years. This is why I am totally confused over all the posts. Guess different universities have different policies.

[timo]

I wasn't even aware that you are talking about technology use in the classroom. I thought you were asking if it is okay to have a private conversation during a lecture, and if it is still okay after fellow students complained about it. A lot of the other posters might have also gotten than impression. So maybe that is why you are so confused about our strange posts ...

 

Btw.: Lecturers being annoyed about students having laptops or smart phones should be happy that they were never forced to leave the ivory tower of university research and have to take part in real-world meetings.

[Unity+]

I wasn't even aware that you are talking about technology use in the classroom. I thought you were asking if it is okay to have a private conversation during a lecture, and if it is still okay after fellow students complained about it. A lot of the other posters might have also gotten than impression. So maybe that is why you are so confused about our strange posts ...

 

Btw.: Lecturers being annoyed about students having laptops or smart phones should be happy that they were never forced to leave the ivory tower of university research and have to take part in real-world meetings.

Well, it was short communication through barely even spoken words, it was mostly gesture. He was trying to figure out a problem on his compiler and I guided him to the solution.

 

I brought up technology because some of the policies the posters brought up about such use seemed to lean towards the intolerance of the technology in the classroom.

[imatfaal]

...

I brought up technology because some of the policies the posters brought up about such use seemed to lean towards the intolerance of the technology in the classroom.

 

It isn't the technology per se - it is the misuse of technology. Mobile phones (I am surgically attached to mine) are great in the right circumstance - but when a ringtone interrupts other peoples (vital) concentration they are very bad. Laptops - I am not sure about. I like to listen, watch the lecturer, get her expressions and nuances, take minimal notes, and pay close attention. In the tortuous and tortious areas of law, where details were hard to keep track of, I think either full notes should be provided with all case and statute details or one allows electronic recorders to be placed around the front of the hall.

[Ophiolite]

A majority of the professors promote technology use in the classroom, especially since many of the texts are electronic and must of the course work is contained online. Also, the professor in computer science especially encourages it if he wants us to test example code in the class, which was what was happening when I was helping the student next to me with. He was trying to figure out what was wrong with his code and I was just correcting the code for him.

Perhaps it is a matter of definition, but

1. Your thread title specifically asks about "talking during lectures", not about using technology.

2. If you are looking at code, created by a fellow student, then that is not a lecture, that is a workshop, or a lab, or some sort of hybrid. Rules peculiar to that beast should have been created and made very clear.

 

When I teach I recently moved from a policy of "lap tops down" to "lap tops up". But I make it very clear that I can spot a Facebook using face from 200m, in the dark, with my back to the user!

[Unity+]

Perhaps it is a matter of definition, but

1. Your thread title specifically asks about "talking during lectures", not about using technology.

2. If you are looking at code, created by a fellow student, then that is not a lecture, that is a workshop, or a lab, or some sort of hybrid. Rules peculiar to that beast should have been created and made very clear.

 

When I teach I recently moved from a policy of "lap tops down" to "lap tops up". But I make it very clear that I can spot a Facebook using face from 200m, in the dark, with my back to the user!

It must be a hybrid because they refer to them as lectures, but they become hybrids a lot of the time.

 

Sorry if I am creating confusion. I'm still new to college vocabulary.

 

Edit: Apparently they never update syllabuses, but come up with or remove rules without us knowing.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Unity+