An Attitudinal Survey of Undergraduate Neuroscience Students Regarding Their Views on the Relevance of Lectures to their Education.

Advances in technology have seen a significant growth in the integration of e-learning into university education. Coupled with this trend are the learning approaches used by "Generation Connected" or GenC students, whose prolific use of digital technology is a defining characteristic. This has resulted in questions being asked as to whether in-class university lecture time is still relevant to university education. Here we conducted a case study with a group of undergraduate neuroscience students to assess their views on the relevance of attending lectures, why they attend or the reasons for non-attendance, and on what makes a good lecture. This is with a view to informing the design of new teaching approaches that may be more beneficial in maximising student engagement, and facilitating learning. The survey instrument was a ten-item questionnaire that collected both qualitative and quantitative data. Over 90% of students were of the view that lectures were beneficial to their learning, while only 4% thought they were an outdated mode of education. Three main themes emerged when students were asked what makes a good lecture: 1. Engagement, 2. Time, and 3. Varied format. We discuss the implications of these findings and suggest how these student views could be woven into the design of teaching approaches to increase the relevance of in-class lecture time in undergraduate neuroscience education.