If you lecture in the theatre and no student is there to hear it, did anybody learn? Welcome to teaching at universities in 2022.

To paraphrase from a famous movie: “Gentlemen, you can’t learn in here! This is the lecture room!”

Five of 160 students attended my Wednesday lecture last week. The lecture theatre had room for 500. Social distancing was simple.

The 50-minute video of this lecture has an average view time of 25 minutes, which is very efficient: double the speed of the video and learn twice as fast.

Only 24 students watched the video within two days. One week later, it had 59 views. Most will (re)view the videos within the last days before the final test.

But I’m not sure we should call this “learning”.

The average score on the last test was a C: by far the worst outcome in my nine years of teaching. While a few students argued that the test was too hard, last year’s version included two harder questions. And last year’s class averaged a B.

In case you wondered: lecture attendance last year was way above 50%.

Before COVID-19, attendance in my class was 60-70%, last year it was above 50%, but this year it is only about 20% (all very smart students).

And it isn’t just my class. This drop in engagement can be seen almost everywhere: every field, University, and country is affected.

How did we get here?

Since 2020, lecturers have done their utmost to make sure students could continue their studies despite COVID-19. We are now all Zoom experts.

Universities and schools have instilled a habit of online “learning” over the last two years. I don’t think open-book online exams are as challenging as closed-book paper-based exams, so grades did not fall, despite the drop in engagement.

Recordings give a false sense of security: “I’ll watch it later”, but “later” never comes. Further, even in my days, students had jobs, did charitable work, and enjoyed social life. These are not arguments for recording lectures.

New technologies can complement lectures. Lecturers should make recordings available to students with accessibility issues or disabilities. But students need in-person lectures. They help students stay on track and provide social engagement that can’t be found on Khan Academy.

Some have suggested that as universities look for cost savings, they could use AI. If universities are easier to run without students, imagine how much easier it would be without academics!