For thousands of years, live, in-person lectures were the most cost-effective, efficient way of delivering information to large audiences.

Until technology changed and the Internet showed up.

Now, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to deliver the same information in thousands of different lectures to thousands of people who are on the same journey.

What if we hired the best teachers to record speeches and share them with nursing students and nurses around the world?

What if we were allowed to repeat, rewind and fast forward what we’re learning?

What if we reduced the price of nursing education, made it free for people who can’t afford it in other parts of the world and turned nursing education into a right, not a privilege?

What if for homework, we listened to pre-recorded podcasts in the evening and prepared to engage in discussions with peers the next day?

What if we stopped asking teachers to reinvent the wheel and freed them up to help us learn how to solve important problems?

Imagine the possibilities, the quality of our education and the contributions of nursing if we pushed against the limits of ‘the way things used to be’ and embraced what’s possible today.

Of course, there’s a time and a place for live, in-person lectures. But when all lecturers do is ask us to be passive learners, they miss the point.

If the point of education is to promote thought, foster engaging discussions and develop emotional skills, then lectures aren’t the answer.