Advantages
|
Challenges
|
Meet the Challenge. Try this:
|
| Lots of FTE's |
Too many students to pay
individual attention to each. |
"Randomly" select 5-10
students each week/class session for input: to report on questions they
have, responses to readings, suggestions for how they might learn better |
| Students may not mind a large
class format as much as you, the instructor, may think they do, or as much
as you, the instructor, mind it yourself.. |
Students are too
"anonymous"; you don't get to know students as individuals. |
Ask 5-10 students each
week/class session to prepare a synopsis of the previous class and present
it to the class. "Randomly" select 2-3 of these student synopses
to share with the rest of the class. |
| I, the instructor, know when I
have taught something because I was paying attention to what I said. |
It's hard to tell whether my
students have really learned the material. |
Ask students to write a
one-minute paper at the beginning or the end of class, either focusing on
expressing the most difficult idea they have encountered in the class that
day, or asking a question they would like to have answered by the
instructor during the next class session. |
| Lecture format allows the
instructor to be in control of the pacing of the class and the accuracy
and range of the material presented. |
Lecture format does not permit
active learning and may be ineffective, even though convenient. |
Spice up your lecture with 10-15
minute discussion intervals, or, schedule a discussion day at regular
intervals. Make sure to prepare your students to discuss materials
with guided questions, and VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, required (brief)
written responses to accompany discussion questions. The written
responses are easier to grade than the oral participation in discussions
and do reflect the level of involvement of each student in the
discussion. "Randomly" grade 1/5 or more of these written
responses each time if you cannot grade every one due to a time
constraint. |
| I, the instructor, am not
expected to assign essays or essay exams in large class sections. |
Students may not be accurately
evaluated by short answer or computer graded exams, the only reasonable
format for testing in a large class. |
You can include short, brief,
small, essay questions on your otherwise short answer exams. These
should be questions that require interpretation or synthesis of meaning,
or knowledge of concepts. |
