Teaching through lectures and achieve active learning in higher education

Effective teaching is vital for student learning in higher education. The purposes of this study were to explore what makes a lecture to be able to promote active learning of students, and to measure by means of questionnaires (Course Questionnaire based on the principles of good teaching; Survey of classroom teaching methods) the teaching effectiveness through large group lecture in terms of using active learning strategies. Apropos, it was asked 300 students and 8 lecturers from varied disciplines of Elbasan University, in Albania, that to complete individually a questionnaire. The questionnaire considered key aspects of an effective lecture prescribed by current research, such as generating and maintaining interest, student engagement, organization and structure. The results of study showed that a considerable part of lectures, in particularly new lectures, were using Power Point presentations frequently and with long sequences of slides which contained a lot of listed information. Also, the students reported difficult for the new lectures to manage disruptive behavior in the auditorium. The study concluded that teaching through lectures and achieve active learning in higher education is a challenging experience for the new lecturers. The study remarked that academics are prepared for their role as research, but not their teaching duties. But, teaching in university is not an activity that anyone can do. Getting the lecture right is a skill and can take time. Furthermore, findings recommended that it is very important providing for a substantial investment into enhancing the teaching abilities of in-service academic staff and starting for preparation of university teachers. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n19p45