Welcome to the Instructional Development Unit, University of the West Indies, Mona blog on advancing teaching and learning in higher education. The purpose of this blog is to provide faculty in higher education institutions in the Caribbean with a way of contributing to the conversations on teaching and learning in higher education. We will explore a number of issues that impact on how we facilitate and support active, student-centred learning in higher education institutions.
One of the major challenges that faculty in higher education institutions face is teaching large classes. Faculty members often complain about class sizes; some exceed 200 students and trying to find those methods and strategies that support active and engaged learning in these kinds of environments is often very challenging. As faculty, we often believe that there is a correlation between class size and student learning. However, what is even more important than class size is providing students with learning environments that are engaging and offer opportunities for active involvement in the learning process.
Lecturing is the oldest method used in higher education institutions and seems to be the easiest method for teaching large classes. However, traditional uses of lectures in the higher education classes do not feature much discussion and interaction with the students. One way to engage students in the lecture is by using questions to solicit students’ responses to certain key issues as well as to allow them to ask questions during the lecture. This way, students can be actively engaged in the process which supports the development of critical thinking skills.
Other strategies that can be used to support active engagement in large classes are the minute paper or free write activities where participants are asked to write for 2-3 minutes on a topic or in response to a question that you have developed for the session. In addition, you can use the Think-Pair-Share active learning strategy that engages students with material on an individual level, in pairs, and finally as a large group.
Of course there are other strategies that you can use. Is there a strategy that you have found to be effective in your large class?
