Let's learn more in lectures

“Dear Dr Greenhalgh, please will you give a lecture.” I have had three such requests this week, and around 25 so far this year. One person has asked me to lead a seminar, and one has tried hard to get me to speak in a debate. No requests for non-directive facilitation, role plays, brainstorming sessions, or reflections on prior experiential learning.

It is undoubtedly pedagogically correct to eschew the lecture as an anachronistic and ineffective educational medium. Please don't send me evidence–I already have it–that students gain around 50% more new ideas and twice as much information, as well as having more fun, when working in tutor facilitated small groups than when …