I’ve sat through about 30 different courses in my time here at NC State so far. I’ve sat through amazing courses with great instructors who changed the way I learned and looked at various subject matters. I’ve also sat through courses that, for some reason or another, made me want to pack up my stuff and leave halfway through every class without fail.

I’ve still got a few more courses left to take before I graduate, but I’d wager that with all the classes and instructors I’ve sat through, I can differentiate between good and bad classes, and structure is a key element of class experience.

One of the most important aspects of good structure is balance. I’m confident most of us have had classes on both extreme ends of the spectrum: dry, lecture-only courses that feel like marathons to get through, and structureless, free-form classes where the plans for that day’s class are almost never met.

I get that there are some exceptions – for example, 500-student classrooms may need to lean more heavily on the lecture side to maintain order. Those lecture-heavy courses, though, can be detrimental to the learning experience. One analysis of studies found that, on average, traditional lecture-style classes fail students 55 percent more often than those with active learning environments. While this may be unavoidable for a lot of STEM students, those teachers given the luxury of teaching a smaller classroom shouldn’t treat it like a lecture hall.

Another important aspect of a well-structured course is planning. I can’t recall how many times in high school and college I’ve heard, “Well, we’re running a bit behind.” I fully understand that it happens to even the best of teachers occasionally, but there are times when an instructor just never catches up and the last few weeks are a mess. Teachers shouldn’t be afraid to cut conversations short and get through material, because it will just hurt everyone in the end otherwise.

Some may think structure doesn’t matter because you’re going to learn what you need to learn by the end of a class anyway, but that’s not realistic. A poorly-structured class affects how people learn. Bad structure impacts a lot of educational factors: how seriously a class is taken, how easily the information given can be processed, how students decide what is and isn’t important to remember and so on.

Ben Johnson, director of Treeside Charter School, emphasized planning for students’ interests and behaviors and allotting an appropriate amount of time to discussions and other distractions. And this goes both ways: while classes lacking framework need to sufficiently prepare in order to ensure that all the important lessons in the actual lecture are taught, lecture-heavy courses also need to take this advice and slow down their pace so that students get to weigh in and actually feel like a part of the class.

To summarize, yes, the structure of a class session is important in education. It’s safe to say that when you are paying thousands in tuition, you’re paying for more than just what you’re going to learn; you’re expecting, at least subconsciously, that the “how” of your college education will be quality, too. You should expect, and demand, that your professors really can lecture and know how to lead a classroom.