Most lecturers in my country write down everything on the blackboard. So we only take notes from that; we usually don't take notes by listening. - Genji
During your studies in the UK you can expect to be taught in different ways. Most students attend lectures and seminars on their course, and they sometimes have tutorials and workshops too.
In this activity you will find out what each of these ways of being taught might involve and how to benefit from them.
What do different ways of being taught involve?
In this activity you are going to explore what is involved in four different ways of being taught, as experienced by students in universities in the UK.
Instruction
Think about the differences between four ways of teaching that you might experience on your course: a lecture, seminar, tutorial and workshop. Look at the 16 descriptions below, decide which best describe each way of being taught and move them onto the appropriate picture. Then check your answers and read the feedback.
To move a description, click on it with the mouse and drag it onto the appropriate picture of a way of being taught. If you change your mind, you can still move the description to another place.
Lecture
Seminar
Tutorial
Workshop
A teaching session often with a practical focus
A way of teaching groups of on average 20 students
Can take place in tutor's office rather than classroom
Formal presentation to a large group of students
Group discussion allows deeper investigation of topic
Lasts up to an hour with time for questions afterwards
Method for conveying information about a subject
Often has a specific focus e.g. close study of a text
Small 'class' of one or several students with a tutor
Speaker may use visual aids or give a hand-out
Students in the UK should take notes while listening
Students may be asked to present / lead on set topics
Group interaction through informal arrangement around a table
Likely to involve hands-on activity as well as structured group work
Students work together with an experimental or investigatory aim, sometimes using computers
This way of teaching allows more individual student attention
Here are the key features of the four common ways of teaching at university in the UK:
Lecture Formal presentation to a large group of students Lasts up to an hour with time for questions afterwards Method for conveying information about a subject Speaker may use visual aids or give a hand-out Students in the UK should take notes while listening
Seminar A way of teaching groups of on average 20 students Group discussion allows deeper investigation of topic Students may be asked to present / lead on set topics Group interaction through informal arrangement around a table
Tutorial Can take place in tutor's office rather than classroom Often has a specific focus e.g. close study of a text Small 'class' of one or several students with a tutor This way of teaching allows more individual student attention
Workshop A teaching session often with a practical focus Likely to involve hands-on activity as well as structured group work Students work together with an experimental or investigatory aim, sometimes using computers
When you start your studies in the UK, you should find that these are quite typical features of each of the four ways of being taught. However, you may also experience some other small differences in the way that lectures, seminars, tutorials and workshops are taught in your subject area or at your particular university in the UK.
While you were doing this activity, you may have discovered some differences between what happens in lectures, seminars, tutorials and workshops in universities in the UK and what happens in them in your home country. Or you may not have experienced all four ways of being taught before. Whichever teaching methods are used on your course in the UK, knowing what to expect in a lecture, seminar, tutorial or workshop will help you get the most benefit from them.
Would you like to review the main points?
You are now familiar with what is involved in each of the four common ways of teaching at university in the UK. Knowing what to expect in lectures, seminars, tutorials and workshops, as they are taught in the UK, will help you prepare for them and ensure that you are able to get the most benefit from them. On most university courses you can expect to be taught using a variety of teaching methods and, of course, you will need to spend time studying independently and you may be required to work with other students on course-related tasks too.
What do different ways of being taught involve?
