Abstract
The lecture has been much maligned as a pedagogical form. It has been denigrated as a «hot medium» that has long been «superseded» by the cooler dialogical and televisual forms. Yet the lecture persists and even flourishes today in the form of the podcast, the TED Talk, Kahn Academy and the «smart» lecture hall (outfitted with audio, video and student feedback technologies). This persistence should lead us to re-evaluate both the lecture and the role of the media that have been related to it over time. This paper examines the lecture as a site of intersecting media, as «a site where differences between media are negotiated» as these media evolve (Franzel 2010). This study shows the lecture as bridging oral communication with writing and newer media technologies, rather than as being superseded by newer electronic and digital forms. The result is a remarkably adaptable and robust form that combines textual record and ephemeral event. It is that is capable of addressing a range of different demands and circumstances, both in terms of classroom pragmatics and more abstractly, of the circulation of knowledge itself. The Web, which brings multiple media together with new and established forms and genres, presents fertile grounds for the continuation and revitalization of the lecture as a dominant pedagogical form.
