Keeping the attention of students during lectures has always been hard. And after COVID-19 disruptions that meant years of Zoom teaching, many professors say things are harder now.

This three-episode podcast series explores this rise in student disengagement — and what creative professors are doing to counteract it.

Much of the reporting was done from the back of large lecture rooms at one large public college — Texas State University. A group of professors invited us to observe their classes, and we talked to them and their students about what teaching is like these days.

The stakes are huge, because the concern is that maybe the social contract between students and professors is kind of breaking down. Do students believe that all this college lecturing is worth hearing? Or, will this moment force a change in the way college teaching is done?