Large
Classes
Tips
for Teaching Large Classes
Contains
six useful tips on teaching large classes. Also contains
Students' Top Ten Complaints About
their Professors
Large class teaching tips
Following
are short summaries of successful large class teaching methods used
by the faculty at ISU.
Preparing to Teach the Large Lecture Course
A
sizable portion of the work involved in teaching a large lecture course
takes place well before the first day of classes. For example, in a
seminar you can make a spur-of-the-moment assignment, but in large classes
you may need to distribute written guidelines.
A Teaching Guide Involving Teaching Assistants
The
most important element in working with TAs is to make the teaching a
team project. Put the emphasis on the teaching, not on the assistant.
First, it's vital to communicate to the students that the course is
being taught by a group rather than an individual. Second,....
Personalizing
the Large Class
One of the biggest problems with large classes, students report, is
that the impersonal atmosphere makes them feel anonymous, lost, and
out of place, and that these feelings lead to decreased motivation.
(Wulff, Nyquist ~ Abbott, 1987) Is there anything we can do to help
students in large classes feel more welcome? Below you'll find suggestions
from the literature and from the experiences of UMCP faculty.
Large
Class FAQ: Active Learning Elements (PDF file)
Many questions and answers about the Active Learing in Large class
Large Class FAQ: Assignments (PDF file)
Many
questions and answers about Assignments in Large class
Large Class FAQ: Attendance (PDF file)
How
can I encourage greater attendance in my class?
Large Class FAQ: Class Planning (PDF file)
How
can I highlight important points in the lecture?
Large Class FAQ: Feedback (PDF file)
How
can I get mid-semester feedback from students about the course?
Large Class FAQ: Note-taking (PDF file)
How
can I help students take better notes?
Large Class FAQ: Resources (PDF file)
How
do I work best with my TAs? What do I do if there's a problem with my
classroom?
Large Class FAQ: Student Involvement/Participation (PDF file)
What
does "student participation" really mean in a large section?
Beating The numbers Game: Effective Teaching in Large Classes
Fortunately, there are ways to make large classes almost as effective
as their smaller counterparts. Without turning yourself inside out,
you can get students actively involved, help them develop a sense of
community, and give frequent homework assignments without killing yourself
(or your teaching assistants) with impossible grading loads.
Teaching Large Classes With the Web
This is the title page for Teaching Large Classes with the Web.
Large Class teaching with Problem Based Learning
I
learned techniques for writing real-life problems, ways to deal with
group dynamics, and principles of transforming a traditional lecture
course into a group-centered problem-based learning (PBL) course. I
decided to retain lectures for about 80% of the classes and use problem-based
learning for the other 20%, limiting the PBL to in-class sessions, rather
than out-of-class meetings. This would allow me to maintain the organization
and the structure which I presumed were necessary for PBL to succeed
with a large class.
Clicking
With Large Classes
Some
of her methods may seem unorthodox (she doesn't require students to
purchase an introductory text for this beginning anthropology course).
Some may feel her methods are too "touchy feely." But she
connects with her students in a powerful way and succeeds in teaching
them to learn about and appreciate the discipline of anthropology. She
had this to say in a recent TEP interview.
Organizing Large Courses: Information for Head Teaching Fellows
Organizing
Large Courses: Information for Head Teaching Fellows
Establish a Liaison Committee
In
a very large class, the students should be selected on a "district"
basis so that all students have relatively easy physical access to one
of the members of the Liaison Committee. You can rotate membership on
the committee from a list of volunteers, but be sure the entire class
knows who the Liaison students are at any given time and how and why
they should use them. Be sure, too, that the Liaison students understand
their function and encourage them to circulate and seek out information
from the other students.
Exaggerate everything about your presentation
Exaggerating
everything about your presentation in a large auditorium class. "In
the large introductory course, I stride the stage with long steps, I
make sweeping gestures, I ask broad rhetorical questions and make ridiculous
puns, I pound the lectern and raise and lower my voice, and I make frequent
use of simple graph on a movie-size screen.
Wear a microphone to talk to the back row
By
remembering to talk to the back row, you will be more likely to adapt
your voice to groups of different sizes. Note, however, that although
you want to project your voice to the back row, your eye contact with
students should vary over several sections of the room. If you look
at the back row as well as talk to it, you will appear excessively distant
and formal
Implement good practices in teaching large lecture courses
The
following list of good practices describes ways of improving the instruction
of freshmen and sophomores in traditional lecture and discussion courses.
Teaching Large Classes
Do
you know how to teach large classes that will be lively, engaging, personable,
and educationally significant? Large classes (meaning classes with over
100 students) present special challenges to the teacher. The two major
educational challenges are that they make students feel anonymous and
passive. Then, depending on how the teacher responds to these challenges,
there may be second-level problems of class morale and discipline. In
addition, the teacher faces inherent "logistical" problems,
e.g., distributing and collecting homework, tests, handouts, posting
grades, etc.
Lecture as Active Learning
Here’s
one innovative thing he did that made a big difference…you might want
to try it the next time you lecture. As we entered, each audience member
was given three cards…one green, one yellow, one red. Rogers asked us
to keep one of the three cards visible to him at all times. If we were
following what he was saying, we were to display the green card. If
we were getting lost, the yellow. If we found ourselves disagreeing
with or objecting to what he was saying, the red.
Active
Learning in Large Classes: Beyond Nuts and Bolts (Microsoft Word
document)
It
is talking about basic issues in Teaching a Large Class and answers
for these issues.
Establishing Ground Rules in Large Class
Part
of the challenge of teaching a large class is developing methods to
deal with the large numbers of students in it. The following suggestions
offer ways to deal efficiently with a large class.
Lecturing
in Large Class
The
formal lecture is among the oldest teaching methods and has been widely
use in higher education for centuries. Potential benefits of a good
lecture include:
Discussion
in Large Class
Traditionally,
lectures do not feature much discussion and in comparison with small
classes do less to develop in students' higher-order thinking skills.
Discussion asks students to process information they have studied in
new ways, for instance, by applying it, evaluating it, or comparing
their understanding of it with that of others. Class discussions, either
between the instructor and the students or the students themselves,
greatly improve students' ability to retain information.
Collaborative/Cooperative
Learning in Large Class
Small-group
work encourages students who may be reluctant to participate in the
large-class setting to become active learners. Cooperative learning
also helps hold students' attention. Groups work best when they are
given a short task that adds variety to a lecture.
Writing
in Lectures in Large Class
Many
undergraduates have done little writing and need more practice. While
the number of students in a large class can make it cumbersome to grade
long term papers or essay exams, this should not deter you from having
students in large classes write. Several short writing activities requiring
a minimal amount of feedback from the instructor can be incorporated
into a lecture course. These activities involve students who are reluctant
to participate in a large-class discussion provide another way to encourage
all students to be active learners.
Giving
Students Feedback in Large Class
A
major difficulty in teaching large classes is finding ways to provide
feedback to and receive it from students. Exams, quizzes and other formal
assessments are too time-intensive to be used often in the large class
setting. Informal and ungraded activities can provide student feedback
that is equally reliable.
Involving
Teaching Assistants in Large Class
One,
two, or more teaching assistants (TAs) are usually assigned to classes
with large enrollments. Traditionally, the professors organize the course
and lecture, while TAs guide students in discussion or lab sections.
One of CTE's initiatives is to encourage faculty to view TAs as future
professors and to become involved in their training and development
as teachers. Encourage (or require) TAs to attend the lectures.
Teaching Writing in Large Classes
Many
instructors don't use any writing in large classes because teaching
writing in addition to course content will further increase their workloads.
These suggestions for using writing in large classes are designed so
that writing becomes a help to teaching the course content, rather than
a hindrance. The following "riffs on writing" in large classes
offer general principles for incorporating writing assignments into
large classes:
Team
Learning Defined
Team
Learning consists of 6 interlocking elements:...Many of these elements
have been tried with varying levels of success across the country for
years. Michaelsen has developed course format guidelines that streamline
their delivery and new techniques for accomplishing his instructional
goals successfully.
Teaching Tips-Instructors share ideas: Large class teaching tips
Large
class teaching tips
