I doubt many were “captivated” by large in-person lectures. But you didn’t really have options.

In my experience in-person lectures have been a terrible way to actually learn (compared to recorded ones or other ways of learning):

1. Lectures are often not held in front of just a handful of students, but hundreds, where frequent interaction and questioning between student and lecturer becomes practically impossible, awkward and socially intimidating. Sitting between many other students is incredibly distracting, and I've more than once seen students bring binoculars to class, because they sat so far away from the blackboard!

2. Only a small fraction of lecturers are actually good at teaching, of being engaged and engaging, clear and concise, understandable and empathetic. Not to mention nice handwriting or powerpoint style. Being "forced" to listen to someone whose style of teaching you don't understand or don't vibe with sucks.

3. If you lose the thread in a deep in-person lecture, you might as well just leave. If you watch a recorded one, you can rewind as often as you want until you understand it.

In these contexts, sitting in a lecture hall becomes more hell than heaven. And professors shouldn't expect their students to find their passion while having to endure this.

>1. Lectures are often not held in front of just a handful of students, but hundreds, where frequent interaction and questioning between student and lecturer becomes practically impossible, awkward and socially intimidating. Sitting between many other students is incredibly distracting, and I've more than once seen students bring binoculars to class, because they sat so far away from the blackboard!

Where on earth did you go to school?

Any big school over 10k students

Not all learning is about being captivated. You have to eat your vegetables

Vegetables can taste good if you cook them properly. Healthy food doesn't have to taste bad, and lectures don't have to be boring either