I'm teaching a course with HOW many students?
I teach part time at Rutgers, in addition to my full time position in OIRT. I'm expanding my teaching repertoire this fall to include a large, 100 level lecture class. To date, I've taught primarily 400 level courses with between 8 and 40 students. Fall 2009 will be my first foray into the world of the LECTURE HALL (notice the big, scary letters), where 200 students will be staring at me expecting to hear my "pearls of wisdom" on the course topics, hoping that the multiple choice exams I give are easy, and wondering if they really need to be in the room to pass the course.
So, here's my problem. I don't lecture when I teach. I ask questions, assign in- and out-of-class group work, have students create final projects, and give essay exams. I'm not sure how I can use this teaching style with 200 students. I'm looking at some cell phone applications that increase interaction (more on these in a future blog post), possibly conducting some of the classes using web videoconferencing (group work would work well with this, I think), and, of course, walking around the room, creating panel discussions, etc etc etc.
I've read a few old but good articles on this and found some good material at Princeton but I would really like to hear how people are addressing the issues inherent in large lecture classes here at Rutgers. Anyone have some thoughts to share?
So, here's my problem. I don't lecture when I teach. I ask questions, assign in- and out-of-class group work, have students create final projects, and give essay exams. I'm not sure how I can use this teaching style with 200 students. I'm looking at some cell phone applications that increase interaction (more on these in a future blog post), possibly conducting some of the classes using web videoconferencing (group work would work well with this, I think), and, of course, walking around the room, creating panel discussions, etc etc etc.
I've read a few old but good articles on this and found some good material at Princeton but I would really like to hear how people are addressing the issues inherent in large lecture classes here at Rutgers. Anyone have some thoughts to share?
posted by Gayle Stein at
12:22 PM
8 Comments:
Gayle,
What class are you teaching? 100 level classes are supposed to be "easy", aren't they? I had a similarly large 100 level course but every 4th class would be with a TA in a small group setting (20-30 people) and you would discuss the material from the previous three classes there. We also never took multiple choice exams and did essay exams that were graded by the TA's.
I don't think it is a good idea to try to assign group work on Sakai for that large of a class. If you want more interaction in class, maybe you should try the iClicker? I had to use that for a class and it kept me involved because the responses counted for a quiz grade each class.
I'm teaching Intro to Information Technology and Informatics for SCILS. Since the class is about technology, I want to model uses of technology in education for the students. Instead of iClickers, I'm hoping to use cell phone technology for in-class interaction. I'll blog on that later this weekend.
I have one TA and one grader. How did you do the group thing--during class times or at other times?
There were about 7 TA's for that class. Every 4th class, your section of 30 people would meet with the TA in a classroom somewhere..
Gayle,
Read "Grown Up Digital" by Don Tapscott and then start thinking about ways to interact with your class. I LOVE LOVE LOVE large lectures because I insist that my students interact with me during the lecture. I also find large lectures really relaxing. I hate being the sole broadcaster of information and prefer a sort of learning collaboration with students. If anyone were to walk into one of my lectures, they would think it utter chaos. Students shout out answers, ask each other questions and dance in the aisles during some of the multi-media portions (memory lecture relies on krumping).
I disagree with the previous poster regarding group work. It will mean more work for you in terms of grading, but collaborating on projects means more learning for your students. Some great resources for a new pedagogical approach to science for the digital generation of students can be found at www.sencer.net. A terrific on-campus resource is Monica Davanas, who is the director of teaching excellence and on the biology faculty. She can help you devise ways to make your course more interactive, immersive and salient to your students. I've worked with Monica in the past and she's terrific. Good luck! DDG - Social Psychology - Rutgers (I hate publishing my all over the internet)
P.S. - Monica can help you with in-class group work. She'll show you how - it really works. While clickers are a step up, they're still the 19th century pedagogy with electricity. I don't find them that engaging, particularly when you consider that today's students share and collaborate more in their daily lives. Want to know what students think about today's classes? Watch the chilling YouTube video here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o - it's called a vision of students today. After you watch this, I hope you run to Monica's office for help.
Cheers...DDG (hate my name all over the net) Social Psycholgy. If want to 'talk' privately, let me know and I'll e-mail you.
As a Sophmore undergrad here at Rutgers who just happened to stumble upon this blog, I just watched that movie, and I can truly say the vast majority of this is completely and totally true. The best classes I've taken so far have been what the previous 2 comments advocate. Some of my worst classes have been large sitting-in-lecture watching a board or projector screen-type environments, just because they bore the heck out of us. Even some of my professors look bored when they're lecturing. Then there are other classes, even some large lecture courses, where the professor is engaging and challenges us beyond just reciprocating text off of a projector/board. Those are the classes I've learned the most in thus far, and have been inclined to put the most effort into as well. PS I have friends presently taking Social Psych and love the class! (See what I mean?) One more thing. Clickers, ugh. To us, it's $50 (times how many classes you have because nobody seems to use the same one) unnecessarily spent just to be used once or twice during a semester. As it is we're plunking down hundreds in books. Anywho, good luck trying to teach a large course for the first time!
Gayle, I remember back a few years when I was in university in South Africa and we had lectures of varying sizes depending on the class. Whenever a class size got around the 100 mark it was always just a stand up lecture, but with smaller classes (towards the end of my mathematical statistics degree) there was a lot more interaction and discussions. I think it's important to retain the focus of the class and keep everyone’s attention and if your class is too big I think you may have too many side conversations and people doing their own thing if you try get to fancy with the format.
I have worked as a TA at York University while completing an MA in political science. I used to teach too. I have never done so in a lecture hall and I can imagine that it can be stressful. Good luck with your teaching career.
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