Teaching Large Classes FAQ

by Andy Saltarelliin Instructional Designon Posted on

My colleagues and I like coffee a lot and spend a good deal of time consulting with faculty who teach large classes. Thus, we developed the caffeine-o-meter to demystify the process of improving a large course.

This was originally developed during my time at CU Boulder. We wanted to provide faculty a continuum of options with fairly accurate portrayals of the effort involved in each optoin. It is very easy, in my opinion, to push interventions that not only overwhelm, but alienate faculty from a process that should involve iteration and continual improvement. The best improvements generally start small and grow as the validity of improvements is proved and entry cost is reduced.

Caffeine-o-meter Legend

 Latte-level

Hidden in a latte are 1-2 ounces of intense and bitter espresso, but that bite is neutralized by a good helping of beautiful steamed whole milk. A latte is like a good lightweight improvement or evidence-based teaching method.

Macchiato-level

Macchiato means “mark” or “stained” and involves toning down a stiff shot of espresso with a small “mark” of milk. A macchiato is like a medium-sized improvement to a large course. It will take a little effort, but won’t keep you up for nights on end to implement.

Double Espresso-level

There’s no getting around the fact that two straight shots of espresso will be bitter and might result in a jittery, sleepless night. A double shot is like a highly efficacious educational improvement that might require a few late nights.

FAQ

Is the lecture dead? How do I keep my students engaged during lecture?

The lecture isn’t dead and still can be the most effective way to convey basic knowledge, communicate a professors’ intrinsic interest in a subject, and quickly clarify common misconceptions. With that said, students’ expectations for what happens within the four walls of the classroom and best teaching practices for developing deep, meaningful learning what are evolving. It is commonly cited that students’ attention span during lecture ranges between 10 and 20 minutes (Johnstone & Percival, 1978; for review see Wilson & Korn, 2007) with the trend likely moving toward the shorter end of that spectrum (Svinicki & McKeachie, 2011). In addition, research suggests students retain 70% of what is said in the first 10 minutes of a lecture, but only 20% in the last 10 minutes (Meyers & Jones, 1993). While these numbers are not deterministic, there are two approaches faculty can take to engage students more readily in large lecture course:

1) Improve lecturing skills and course organization.

Latte-level:

Double Espresso-level:

  • Read “Understanding by Design” (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005) and use backward design to reorganize your entire course around big, meaningful ideas. TLCs can assist you in full course redesigns.

2) Implement active learning methods to supplement, break up, and/or replace in-class lecture.

Latte-level:

Macchiato-level:

Double Espresso-level:

How can I give students a voice in such a large class?

Students in a large course, often freshman, find themselves feeling overwhelmed, intimidated and isolated. They may feel uncomfortable approaching the instructor, they don’t know any of the other students in the course and are intimidated by the sheer number of people in the class. To help students feel in control of their performance in a large class, it is important to provide outlets for communication, places to get help, and an overall sense of connectedness to others in the class.

Latte-level:

  • Create opportunities for students to communicate with other students and TAs.
  • A quick and easy first step is to set up a class wide discussion in your LMS or other course website to provide a space for students to ask and to look for answers to common questions. These can be monitored by TAs or by rotating student group responsibility.
  • Additionally, online discussions can extend the learning opportunities outside of the regular class meetings.
  • Tips for Instructors getting started with online discussions.
  • Here are some Tips for Students participating in online discussions, too.
  • Best Practices for Online Discussions
  • Get started with Discussions in Canvas at CUBoulder

Double Espresso-level:

  • For a more adventurous foray, you might try using a backchannel. The use of a backchannel can provide an outlet in class for students to ask questions without risking embarrassment or feelings of inadequacy.
  • Additionally, a backchannel can give the instructor feedback about what areas are unclear, what questions students have, or how students thought processes are progressing.
  • 7 Things You Should Know About Backchannels
  • Try Slido.

How can I allow students to contribute to the content of the course?

Of all the things that can be learned at a university, how to learn is the most important. Information is at our fingertips and it changes everyday. So students need to know how to find information, make sense of what they find and then use that information in a new way. Helping students learn to make connections and begin creating their own communities of learners will prepare them for the workplace of the future. Content curation and social learning is one way to help students begin to take control and responsibility for their own learning.

Latte-level:

Double Espresso-level:

How can I possibly do group work in class of 250?

Research has shown that group work activities create a better learning environment, increase student engagement, and improve retention of information. In large classes forming and managing groups may seem like a daunting task. However, a large amount of literature exists on strategies and techniques that can help you effectively form group work activities even in a large class. Below we provide a number of ideas.

Latte-level:

Macchiato-level:

Double Espresso-level:

  • Incorporate Team-Based Learning (TBL) into your teaching practices. One the most advanced form of group work, TBL is designed to provide students with both conceptual and procedural knowledge. In TBL, a large amount of classroom time is spent on team assignments that focus on solving authentic problems.
  • To learn more about TBL, read the following sources:
  • The Essential Elements of Team-Based Learning
  • The TBL website

How to facilitate substantive discussions in and out of class?

Managing discussions in any class; large, small, online, or face to face, takes practice. Setting expectations, guidelines, incentives and being present are all important characteristics of sustaining substantive dialogue. In a large course, a good mix of discussion in class and out of class can give all students the opportunity to find a voice. First learn about all things related to class discussions.

Latte-level:

Double Espresso-level:

  • Tweet, Tumble, Like, Plus, Pin. Maybe give social media a try. Social media sites can offer a platform native to students that allows for sharing images, links, and videos.
  • It can provide a more inviting environment than an LMS threaded discussion board to keep the conversation going even after class.
  • Reasons to use social media.

How do I get students to do activities (readings, quizzes, homework) prior to coming to lecture?

Research suggests that only 20-30% of students do assigned reading before coming to class (Burchfield & Sappington, 2000). Thus, in most cases, students need motivation for completing work if you expect most of them to do it prior to coming to class. Motivation (or rewards) can broadly come in two forms: social and formal credit related to overall grade. Social credit involves giving students opportunities (see e.g., base groups) to share their understanding (or seek clarification) of pre-class readings and activities with their peers. Formal credit involves giving students course points for completing pre-class activities (e.g., one-minute paper or D2L quiz).

Latte-level:

  • It may seem overly simplistic, but one approach is to teach class as if students had done the reading. Students, on average, will be more apt to do the reading if they know that it will be near impossible to follow lecture if they don’t come prepared.
  • Read Idea Paper #40 on how to raise the value of course readings and integrate them with other class activities.

Macchiato-level:

  • Implement pre-class, low-stakes quizes that require students to show that they’ve interacted with the readings prior to coming to class.
  • Use asynchronous online technologies such as Perusall, Piazza, or the forum tool in D2L/Canvas to structure discussions about required reading prior to students coming to class.

Double Espresso-level:

  • Develop base groups and reporting structures that logs and tracks pre-work done by each group.

How can I manage and best utilize TA/GAs strengths?

In a large course, TAs are an invaluable resource. Effective collaboration with your TAs requires organization above all, but additionally your course will run smoother if you set expectations, assign responsibilities, meet regularly, and collect and provide regular feedback.

Latte-level:

Double Espresso-level:

What should I do on the first day of a large course?

The first day of class can be unnerving whether you are an experienced instructor or teaching a course for the first time. However, the first day is an important time to discuss your course expectations, students’ responsibilities, and to set the tone for the entire semester. Also, it can be an opportunity to establish a good rapport with your students. Below are some suggestions:

Latte-level:

  • Establish a welcoming classroom environment. Watch this video to learn how.
  • Let students get to know you by telling them about your research, professional interests and experience. Share your teaching philosophy, and let students know why you are passionate about your research subject, teaching and learning. Also, tell students why this class is important and exciting.
  • Establish ground rules for the course. The most common ground rules may include course expectations, attendance, participation and discipline. Put the rules in writing and hand them out on the first day, or post them on D2L.
  • Discuss the relevant aspects of university policies. For example, go over CU’s Honor Code, discuss academic integrity, and emphasize how students should conduct themselves in the classroom. http://honorcode.colorado.edu/

Macchiato-level:

  • Try to build connections with your students. One way of doing this is to learn your students’ names. Although it would be challenging to learn all the names, knowing the names of a portion of the class can make a significant difference.
  • Use such tried techniques as asking students give their name each time when they speak or having them use name tags.
  • Get to know your students’ interests and abilities. For example, give each student an index card and ask them to provide their name, hometown and major. Then ask them briefly describe their academic interests.

Double Espresso-level:

  • To stimulate students’ interest right off the bat, provide samples of your course content using engaging activities.
  • For example use Concept Mapping on the first day of your class, and encourage your students to hand-draw a concept map representing their understanding of the subject of the course. You can let students work in groups to compare their concept maps with each other, or share your own with the whole class.
  • You can revisit this activity at the end of the course so that students can evaluate their progress using pre- and post-concept maps that they created.
  • Use non-traditional teaching and learning strategies on the first day of your class. For example, give your students final essay examination questions and sources for answering the questions. This will serve as the benchmarks and reference points for guiding student learning.
  • Go for an extreme syllabus makeover. Check out some great examples of developing visual syllabi developed by faculty from various universities.
  • Creative Approaches to the Syllabus
  • For more ideas, read the IDEA PAPER #4

How do I easily and efficiently get a pulse on how the course is going?

End-of-course evaluations are helpful in making improvements for subsequent semesters, but they are inadequate for being responsive to students needs and perspectives while a course is running. This is where formative assessment comes in. Formative assessment techniques allow you to quickly and periodically evaluate students’ understanding of course concepts so that small improvements can be made to on-going instruction.

Latte-level:

  • Implement lightweight classroom assessment techniques (see e.g., a list from Iowa State and Vanderbilt)
  • Use Google Forms or Qualtrics to develop short, online surveys to get both quantitative and qualitative feedback from students.

Double Espresso-level:

  • Developing feedback dashboards (analogue or digital) that give you (and potentially your students) near real-time feedback on students are progressing through your course (see this example from an award-winning hybrid course).

How do I assess higher-order thinking skills in my large class?

Based on Bloom’s Taxonomy, higher-order thinking refers to the ability to combine facts and ideas in order to apply, analyze, synthesize, create, and evaluate information (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). Activities and tasks requiring higher-order thinking allow students to solve problems, discover new meanings, and make implications.

Latte-level:

  • Review and rewrite your multiple-choice questions. Studies show that even multiple-choice questions can be successfully used to measure learners’ higher-order thinking skills (Killoran, 1992).
  • To create data- based questions to measure students’ comprehension and their ability to analyse, generalize and synthesize, refer to Haladyna, T. (1994): Writing Test Items to Evaluate Higher Order Thinking.
  • Request a brief written justification for each multiple-choice question. This will ensure that your tests cover some higher-order thinking skills (such as develop sound reasoning and draw conclusions). This will also give your students a chance to justify their answers, and receive at least partial credit for well-defended (but incorrect) answers.
  • For more ideas, refer to Fisher, J. (2008): Multiple-Choice: Choosing the Best Options for More Effective and Less Frustrating Law School Testing

Macchiato-level:

  • Use open-ended questions in your tests. These type of questions generally can have more than one answer and require students to apply their knowledge to explain, analyse and make inferences.
  • For more information on the advantages of open-ended questions, check McComas & Abraham (2004) Asking Better Questions
  • Essays and Narratives: Essay tests can be a viable assessment tool for measuring students’ higher-order thinking skills.
  • For more information read: Writing and Grading Essay Question and Developing Quality Essay Questions. However, note that grading essays and open-ended questions might be time consuming, especially if you teach a large class.
  • This can be avoided by creating scoring rubrics. For information and examples of successful rubrics, refer to the resources provided by the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence at Carnegie Mellon University.

Double Espresso-level:

  • Read about authentic assessment, “a form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills” (Mueller, 2012) by going through the sources below:
  • Authentic Assessment Toolbox
  • Integration of the Disciplines: Authentic Assessment
  • Implement authentic assessment into your course. Consider Performance tests, Portfolios, Groups Tasks and others to authentically assess your course objectives.
  • Read more about the types of authentic tasks and the ways of integrating them into your curriculum.

How do I best utilize D2L to manage/structure the course?

There are several ways D2L (and modern successors like Canvas) can help instructors to manage large classes. Below we include some of them, but as always, feel free to contact us to get ideas for your specific situation.

Latte-level:

  • The News feature in D2L can be a great tool to quickly communicate upcoming events or to alert your students about changes in course organization.
  • Create a “Q&A” folder on D2L, and encourage your students to post class related questions there. This way your response will be available to the whole class.
  • In addition, if you find yourself answering the same questions repeatedly, create a Frequently Asked Questions file with your responses and post it on D2L.
  • D2L – Managing Files and Folders

Macchiato-level:

  • D2L’s grading options can help you to maximize your time and effort in grading large classes. You can import grades from another application, or use mass entry options to assign the same grade to members of the same team.
  • D2L – Grades
  • To help students prepare for class or to follow up after class, you can use the D2L Forums and ask students to post and respond to questions about course content.
  • You can use these features to facilitate either whole class or group discussions. D2L – Create a Discussion Forum
  • To solicit feedback from your students about any aspect of your course, consider D2L’s survey feature. It can be used as a method of delivering course-evaluations or mid-year reviews. D2L – Surveys

Double Espresso-level:

  • You can use audio files to provide supplemental instructional material, explain complicated charts and graphs, or provide feedback for assignments.
  • D2L – Record Audio
  • Kaltura is a rich media streaming service that supports audio and video streams, lecture capture and live broadcasts.
  • You can integrate Kaltura into D2L to share video, audio and image files with your students.

How do I keep students from texting and Facebooking in class (or utilize these technologies for learning)?

There are a range of responses and tactics for addressing this issue and much of it comes down to instructor preference. On one end of the scale, instructors can clearly stipulate that using digital devices of any kind (cell/smart phone, tablet, laptop) is prohibited during class or at least during lecture. With that said, this is becoming increasingly impractical in large classes since devices continue to shrink and students’ ability to use them covertly has only improved. Instructors can instead capitalize on the fact that the majority of students own and and are proficient in using digital devices. A few options are listed below:

Latte-level:

Macchiato-level:

  • Facilitate collaborative group projects with technologies such as Google Docs, Canva (modern Prezi alternative), or Mindomo that gives students a co-editable web space within which to interact and co-create.
  • Allow students to curate and create mashups of web resources related to lecture and course activities with tools such as Wakelet (replacement for Storify/Delicious), Pinterest, Scoopit, Diigo, Feedly (replacement for Google Reader), or Evernote.
  • See this resource on how to integrate curation activities in your course.

Double Espresso-level:

Image attributes – Full image is original, Latte (http://www.iconarchive.com/artist/kzzu.html), Espresso (http://www.flickr.com/photos/markfive/), Macchiato (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jgarn/)

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