What’s the difference between a lecture course, a seminar, and a proseminar?
In a lecture course, the instructor does most of the lecturing and may or may not include time for class discussion. Such classes may have 35 to 200 students, including graduate students, undergraduates, and noncredit registrants. In a seminar, the students are largely responsible for the content of each class, providing considerable discussion, weekly oral reports, and at the end of the course, more extensive term paper presentations. The instructor’s role is chiefly to guide and comment on the discussion, provide background information, and to make the various assignments. Seminars are smaller courses, usually limited to 15 to 19 students, all of whom will be graduate students. Both seminar and proseminars are limited-enrollment courses, but the proseminar is the introduction to graduate studies required for ALM admission. See Proseminar and Seminars for more information.
