University of New Mexico - Valencia Campus
Teaching & Learning Center
Large Classes
Contains six useful tips on teaching large classes. Also contains Students' Top Ten Complaints About their Professors http://trc.ucdavis.edu/trc/papers/notes/tchlarge.html
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. http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/largelecture.html
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. http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/Largeclasses.htm
This is the title page for Teaching Large Classes with the Web. http://virtual.park.uga.edu/cdesmet/231stud.htm
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. http://www.udel.edu/pbl/cte/spr96-bisc2.html
The following list of good practices describes ways of improving the instruction of freshmen and sophomores in traditional lecture and discussion courses. http://teaching.berkeley.edu/compendium/suggestions/file212.html
Through trial and error, I have learned some helpful techniques for engaging the class. Amazingly, much of what I do all happens on the first day of class.http://ase.tufts.edu/cae/occasional_papers/questions.htm
Organizing Large Courses: Information for Head Teaching Fellows http://bokcenter.harvard.edu/docs/Sultan.html
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. http://teaching.berkeley.edu/compendium/suggestions/file101.html
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. http://teaching.berkeley.edu/compendium/suggestions/file147.html
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 http://teaching.berkeley.edu/compendium/suggestions/file158.html
The following list of good practices describes ways of improving the instruction of freshmen and sophomores in traditional lecture and discussion courses. http://teaching.berkeley.edu/compendium/suggestions/file212.html
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. http://www.ou.edu/idp/tips/ideas/quick16.html
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. http://www.oncourseworkshop.com/Miscellaneous001.htm
The use of assignments that ask students to write frequently or at length seems naturally to fall to the curricula of smaller classes, even though nearly all faculty would agree that students need to improve general writing skills and gain practice in writing for a variety of purposes during their college years. http://www.uiowa.edu/~centeach/talk/volume7/writ.html
Creating a sense of community is important to learning. Creating a community in a larger class can present a challenge, but it is possible.http://fp.uni.edu/its/et/tlt/larger/community/default.htm
Technology can be used to assist you in administering tests and delivering grades. There are few examples. http://fp.uni.edu/its/et/tlt/larger/testing_grading/default.htm
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. Following are some ideas for doing all that. http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/Largeclasses.htm
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. http://tep.uoregon.edu/resources/assessment/teamlearning/teamlearning.html
Suggestions for preparing for teaching a large class including handling behavioral problems, attendance policies, departmental support, and preparing in advance. http://www.isd.uga.edu/teaching_resources/resources/large_class1.html
When teaching large classes, many professors are overwhelmed by the amount of time it takes to conduct class business such as communicating with students, grading, and even handing out papers. This article provides some strategies for coping with the management demands of a large class. http://www.isd.uga.edu/teaching_resources/resources/lc_logistics.html
A list of useful links for people who are teaching large classes. No annotation to the list of links, but each one is valuable.
http://comp.uark.edu/~rlee/teach/large.html
Beating the Numbers Game: Effective Teaching in Large Classes. Richard Felder's article with lots of practical advice.
http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/Largeclasses.htm