One of the goals of this whole model—of having students do a lot of the learning themselves rather than passively listening—is that they need to be lifelong learners

Gone is the traditional 50-minute lecture. (Also gone is paper, for the most part.) The students have completed the assigned reading beforehand and, because they’ve absorbed the facts on their own, class time serves another purpose. Self-assessment tests at the start of class measure how well they understand the material. Then it’s time to do a test case, to reinforce their critical thinking and push their knowledge and skills to another level.

The room’s interactive technology allows her to link to students’ laptops; it also enables their work to be broadcast onto the big screens. Instead of a blackboard, she can use a document camera, which is like an overhead projector, allowing her to write or draw a diagram that will project on the screens. Absentees can view a podcast of the session.

We’re trying to create a situation in which they are thinking as a physician working with a patient, not as a professional test taker,

Immediately following the exercise, students move to a separate room where, still highly energized, they watch the video and reflect on their decision making as physicians in that particular situation.

studies in modern learning theory indicate that hour-long lectures are not the best way to teach students because the average attention span for listening to one is about 12 minutes.

The circular learning studio, Pollart notes, is designed for learning, not teaching.

There was some initial resistance. Some faculty felt a little offended