Lectures
Lectures are an important teaching and learning activity at university. They provide an opportunity to get an overview of the course, be introduced to the main topics, ideas, concepts, theories and theorists. Often these are presented by more than one academic and sometimes guest speakers.
Lectures are not always entertaining or particularly engaging. Therefore it is useful to develop techniques for keeping your attention active. This might mean taking notes, either written or typed. It might help to follow the lecture slides if these are offered on your course site. Being prepared by doing come reading beforehand can help.
Whilst you are listening to a lecture, think about the material, what it means to you, whether you agree, whether it is new and challenging material. Listening actively - it is not just about taking in or collecting information, it is also about thinking critically about the content.
The section on Note-taking has advice on ways to take notes in lectures.
Recorded lectures
There may be times when you are unable to attend a lecture in person. Most lectures are recorded and made available from your course site. It can be useful to make time in your timetable to listen the recordings so it becomes part of your routine.
Listening to recordings can also be useful if you want to go over material that you found particularly interesting or challenging. It can be useful during exam revision to go over certain parts of the course.