Huge classes

[kegel84]

I'm just about to start my second year as a teaching assistant (not in the US). Due to a decision by university management, any entrance limitations for new students have been removed, so now we're being swamped by new students

Comments

[lifeofbai]

Disclaimer: I haven't taught any classes with over 50 students, but my discussion sessions are fairly large, and I also give review sessions to 100+ students.

Maybe this just "works" for my particular field, but in order to be interactive, I make the students walk me through how to solve problems. I'll lecture a little bit at the beginning, but once we start going through actual examples, I'll frequently ask, "Can someone tell me what step we do next?" or "Can someone tell me how we would start this?" That forces them to participate rather than listen to me lecture the whole time. Sometimes I put them in groups to work on problems together too, but I think the interactive learning is more beneficial.

- Ray

[kegel84]

Ok, solving problems step by step.

[lifeofbai]

Yes, this works for me and it seem to work for the students as well. I think it is more useful for students to actually participate in the "doing" rather than just watching and copying notes.

This approach might work if you're going over some case studies or design of experiments in your methods class. You could first present the problem that you want to study, then ask things like, "How might I collect data?", "How might I interpret this result?", or things like that.

[kegel84]

Thanks for the idea.

I considered analysing some studies that have been done, but it's also a good idea to let them come up with ways to study certain problems.

I just hope it's going to work with all those people.

[ermenengilda]

By having them work in groups, when possible. But you'd need to plan carefully for this, and ensure the classroom conditions are adequate (large enough, moveable seats, not an amphitheatre etc.).

[kegel84]

Yeah, that's the fun thing. I'm not even sure they are going to fit in the classroom in general.

I can apply for a larger room, but it's not guaranteed that I'll get one, as others have the same trouble.

[kegel84]

The link isn't quite as simple as that, as we have free tuition in our country. But the idea is that the state government will give more money to the (state) university, if we have more students. But it's not sure they will, as spending cuts are being done everywhere.

[nibea]

Uh that sucks. I teach an intro class with 60 students right now (which is fairly small for my school). I have them split up in groups a lot and work on a discussion topic or problem. I let them turn in group work to keep grading low (I like to give detailed feedback so they learn form their assignments but you cannot do that for everyone individually so the group work is a good compromise in my opinion). Sometimes I then let one person from each group present to the entire class.

Also if I ask the class a question, I step away from the podium, to a side of the classroom or even walk up the stairs to get to the back. I find that this gets more students engaged than just those in the front row. If I have a few people who always talk, I'll sometimes walk to a different section of the class and say that I'll stand there until someone sitting there answers my question... ;)

[kegel84]

Yeah, walking to a different section is good, if you have the space. During the summer semester I had a fairly small class (25 students) and they tended to sit in the back rows, but I could simply turn the tables and just go to the very back.

[kahlan_amnell]

The introductory sections here are over 100 students, and instructors are still expected to make them somewhat interactive. They often do this through small group discussions, or assigning group projects.