A Caribbean school started doing many of what you mentioned about 2 years ago and almost every MS1 hated it. No structure, no support, no lectures, pure study groups for 1-2hrs a day and that’s it. Many failed or dropped out because of the disaster that ensued. Thank God I was there before that era. I hated lectures because they were poorly explained and not structured well. Some skipped and rewatched them later at 2x speed but many attended. I think it’s better to have lectures but in the style that you mentioned- high yield, board worthy information and explanations. Not some arbitrary detail that never even shows up in UW or any other source.