"Listening continuously and taking notes for an hour is an unusual cognitive experience for most young people."

"Professors should embrace — and even advertise — lecture courses as an exercise in mindfulness and attention building, a mental workout that counteracts the junk food of nonstop social media. More and more of my colleagues are banning the use of laptops in their classrooms. They say that despite initial grumbling, students usually praise the policy by the end of the semester. 'I think the students value a break from their multitasking lives,' Andrew Delbanco, a professor of American Studies at Columbia University and an award-winning teacher, told me. 'The classroom is an unusual space for them to be in: Here’s a person talking about complicated ideas and challenging books and trying not to dumb them down, not playing for laughs, requiring 60 minutes of focused attention.' Holding their attention is not easy. I lecture from detailed notes, which I rehearse before each class until I know the script well enough to riff when inspiration strikes. I pace around, wave my arms, and call out questions to which I expect an answer. When the hour is done, I’m hot and sweaty...."

From "Lecture Me. Really." — an essay in praise of the lecture method of teaching, by Molly Worthen, a history professor at the University of North Carolina.