From The Daily Progress, Oct. 23, 2010:

At UVa, flash mobs learn for sake of learning

Taking a page from “flash mobs” — those sudden assemblies of people brought together by social media — University of Virginia students and faculty are gathering outside the classroom for special lectures simply for the sake of learning.

Starting this semester, the students have been organizing via e-mail “flash seminars” taught by UVa faculty members. Topics so far have included: “Liberal Arts in the Era of Late Capitalism,” “Can Buildings be Carbon Neutral, and Should They?” and “There is Much to be Angry About: Are We an Apathetic Generation?”

Faculty members want to participate, they say, because the flash seminars are an opportunity to teach about a topic of personal interest to students who want to listen and learn, rather than get a grade or earn course credit.

For complete story, follow link in headline.