That's unfortunately how much of college education had begun. Unfortunately (this is a guess), but I think the problem has come into being because of many universities' desire to scale up. With scaling up the number of students, it has become impossible to give quality attention to the students and encourage interaction.

Recently I decided to do a Do-It-Yourself masters in computer science, using open courseware and social learning. It's an experiment, and I am also hoping to learn a few new things. So far I have had a great time, because I can learn at my own pace, and follow concept leads which I think will be useful.

I am documenting the experiment at - http://opencs.wikidot.com

I am hoping that in the future students will take charge of their learning, rather than the other way around.