General Teaching in a Large Lecture Classroom

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How can I help my Teaching Assistants become more efficient and effective?

Meet regularly with all course TAs to discuss effective teaching strategies, design assignments and exams, and create weekly lesson plans for discussion sections.

  • Make sure your TAs have and read UI Handbook for Teaching Assistant.
  • Work with the course TAs to define their roles and responsibilities.  Help them understand course goals, lead productive discussion sessions, use their time effectively, demonstrate professional behavior, and appropriately evaluate student learning.
  • Make sure all TAs cover the same material and remain on schedule. 
  • Drop in to observe them teach and provide constructive advice for how they can improve!
  • Invite their feedback about the course.  Graduate students may be uncomfortable criticizing you directly, so encourage them to ask questions, propose alternatives, and share what they hear from their students about the course.
  • Help TAs develop criteria for evaluation rubrics. Include the rubrics with assignments so students know how they will be evaluated.
  • To enhance grading consistency across discussion sections, work with your TAs to standardize/calculate the application of grading criteria. To calibrate, you can have all TAs grade a common set of papers, and discuss until everyone is in agreement about the appropriate grades.
  • Require TAs to attend and take notes at lectures.
  • Model teaching strategies that engage students in active learning during lecture. Encourage TAs to use similar strategies during discussion sections.  (See question about "active learning" below).
  • Encourage TAs to do more than repeat the material presented in lecture, but to help students understand, apply, synthesize, and evaluate.
  • Ask TAs to get feedback about their teaching from experienced TAs in the department or via videotaping services provided by the Center for Teaching.
  • Direct international TAs to resources on campus (the Center for Teaching; ESL; International Programs) that will help orient them to teaching in U.S. classrooms and to better understand higher education in the United States. Educate yourself on their culture so you can anticipate cultural misunderstandings that might arise.

In such a large class, how can I engage my students in active learning?

The Lecture Approach

Although smaller classes generally provide more opportunities for students to interact with the instructor and each other, no direct correlation exists between class size and student learning.  The key to student academic success is the degree to which students participate in active learning, regardless of class size.

Students identify successful teachers as those who are organized, know the subject, are enthusiastic about course material and teaching, show concern for student learning, and demonstrate good presentation skills.

Much of the following applies to excellent instruction in any size class.  But these suggestions are particularly useful and effective when implemented in large classes.

  • Through the syllabus, class discussion, and the online course management system (ICON), present a clear “roadmap” to the semester, including learning objectives, study strategies, rubrics, and expectations about honesty.
  • Ask students to define critical thinking and talk about how they can develop and demonstrate critical thinking skills through the class assignments and activities.  Present your thoughts and discuss why critical thinking skills are important for life-long learning. For each reading or assignment, remind students to practice their critical thinking skills.
  • Write the three main points of each class session on the board or in a PowerPoint slide.  As you complete each section, invite one student to summarize what was said and another to predict what topics or issues might come next.
  • Lecture for 15-20 minutes, then change the dynamic with a brief, active learning activity.  These might include:
  • Ask for questions, and mean it. For example, you might stop class and say that you will only go on after someone has asked a question about the material that was just covered. Then wait until you get a question, and regardless of whether it is a good question, answer it in a supportive, encouraging way.
  • Periodically (even weekly) gather information about your teaching and student learning.  The one-minute paper works well for this (TA Handbook, page 17). Students appreciate being asked for feedback. Another option is to use ICON, which has the capacity to survey students.
  • Help students learn the Cornell note-taking system. Make them turn in their notes several times during the semester and ask TAs to provide brief feedback.
  • Invite students to provide potential exam questions. Review those questions and other potential exam questions in class.
  • Personalize your presentation. Allow your own interests and personality to shine through the lecture, so the students get to know you (a little) as a person, and understand why you are excited about the course materials.
  • While lecturing or guiding discussion, move around. Leave the podium, make eye contact. Venture into the aisles, and later in the semester, even invite students to guide discussion (or solve a problem or present supplemental information) for five minutes while you site among their peers.

How can I personalize the learning environment and make students feel more welcome in the classroom and part of a learning community?

  • On the first day of class and several times during the semester, greet your students at the door.  Ask your TAs to do the same.
  • Try to learn students’ names and then use them.  There are any number of techniques and tricks for learning names, including making “flash cards” of students’ photos with their names; assigning seats; requiring them to make large-print name tents that they place on their desks; or asking them to write a few points about themselves on a 3x5 card so you can start to relate to them as people, not just anonymous students.
    • After setting up your notes and technology in the front of the room prior to the beginning of class, sit in the “audience” and chat with students for a few minutes before beginning class.
    • Collect relevant background information about what your students already know as well as their learning style preferences. 
    • A first-day “quiz” using student response systems (“clickers”) can help you collect anonymous data as well as introduce students to clicker technology.
    • Early in the semester, ask students to complete the Four Questions assignment (They will appreciate being asked about their learning goals and you can “mine” the information in a number of interesting ways to engage students and encourage them to take responsibility for their own learning.  
    • Require students to pose a question on the ICON site and choose one or two each day to start discussion.  Announce the students’ names.
    • Tell students you will call on them randomly.  Then make sure it’s random by drawing names from a hat or using a similar randomizing method. 
    • Provide students with a framework for their answers such as the three-part response.   This entails students repeating the question, answering it in a sentence or two, and then forming  another question which builds on the first.
    • Invite students to direct their answers to their peers, rather than to you.
    • Ask students to respond to their peers’ answers before you chime in.
    • At the end of a discussion, make sure students know the “correct” answer if one exists.  Clarify and summarize so they do not leave the class thinking every answer is equally valid.
    • Try to relate your lecture material to the real world.
    • After several weeks, ask if a few students want to serve on a student board of representatives (or quality circle) for the class.  Board members will solicit feedback from their peers and pass it along to the instructor.  Near mid-semester and again at the end of the semester, take board members out for coffee to discuss what they and their peers want you to know about lectures, discussion sections, assignments, exams, etc.

I have heard about Peer Instruction. What is this approach and how does it work?

  • Peer instruction encourages students to teach each other in the classroom and beyond.  There are many ways to effectuate such an approach, but one method is particularly effective.  Eric Mazur, Harvard University Professor of Physics and Astronomy, applies a peer instruction technique that relies on concept tests. The process of concept tests can be described as follows:
    • Pose a question (1 minute)
    • Students think individually (1 minute)
    • Students record individual answers on paper or with a student response system.
    • In small groups, students try to convince their neighbors of their answers (2-5 minutes).
    • Students individually record revised answers.
    • Through student response systems or a show of hands, students individually record revised answers.
    • Several small groups explain their group discussion and consensus, if any.
    • Instructor explains correct answer.

    (Christine A. Stanley and M. Erin Porter, eds., Engaging Large Classes, Anker Publishing, 2002, p. 286.)

How can I encourage students to contribute to the classroom discussion?

  • Just-in-time teaching helps students come to class prepared and interested in discussion.  This teaching technique requires students to answer a question or two prior to class.  Questions can be based on readings, lecture material, small-group discussion, etc.  Students submit their answers to the ICON site by a deadline set by the instructor.  Prior to class, the instructor can survey students’ answers to determine if most have understood the material, in which case, the instructor can go on to new material.  On the other hand, if most students seem confused, the instructor can spend additional time in class trying to clarify the topics students seem to be struggling with the most.
  • Student response systems also encourage students in large classes to be actively involved in learning.
  • Offer positive feedback to every contribution. Summarize near the end of the class session, however, so students understand what you expect them to know.

How do I know if students are learning before waiting for a midterm exam?

  • Simple, non-graded, anonymous, in-class techniques can effectively monitor overall student learning and the impact of your teaching.
  • Minute papers work well.  At the end of class, ask students to answer one or two questions that can assist you in evaluating what they have learned during that day’s class (or from assigned reading, or in discussion section, etc.).  You can ask, “What was the most important thing you learned today?”  Or, “What confused you about last week’s assigned reading?”
  • Similar to minute-papers, mid-point evaluations can provide feedback about student learning.  You might ask, “How do you see the learning environment in this class?”  Or, “How might I help you learn better?” 
  • Offer an online sample test via ICON. Or do a short sample midterm in class. Provide students with information not just on the correct answers, but on how you arrived at that answer.

How do I know if students are doing the assigned readings? How do I get students to actually do what I assign outside of class?

Ask students to answer specific questions about the readings in a reading response paper for each assignment.

  • A “gimme” question from the first couple of pages of the assigned text to determine if the student even opened the book/visited the site.
  • A “gimme” question from the last couple of pages of the assigned text to determine if the student read all the material.

Make all coursework count towards a participation grade.

Require a short summary of reading assignments.

Require students to submit “trouble spot” questions or “personal point of resonance remarks” to the course ICON site.

Discuss specific points or aspects of the readings in section meeting, and ask the TA to keep track of participation (for credit).

Create assignments that synthesize in- and out-of-class work.  These can run the gamut from lightly weighted one paragraph assignments to heavily weighted longer assignments.

Clicker questions can help with this in the following ways:           

    • A set of increasingly complex questions that assess the overall level of comprehension

Viewing a video assignment can be assessed by 

    • Asking clicker questions that cover out of class work
    • A “what resonated most strongly with you?” piece to be posted on ICON or submitted in class, or to the TA in the section meeting.

If attendance at an event was assigned, ask students to provide:

    • A program annotated with notes from the event or
    • A ticket stub from the event or
      • A one-page reflection piece

How do I get students to attend class?

  • There is a legitimate fear that the anonymity of large lectures may tempt some students to miss class.
  • First make sure they know you both want and expect them to be there.  Telling students you don’t care if they show up to class doesn’t exactly engender enthusiastic attendance.  Remind them that they have a responsibility not only to themselves, but to their peers, and that you appreciate their questions and insights.
  • Taking attendance can be time consuming.  Some instructors of large classes require their TAs to note the large-lecture attendance of the students in their discussion sections.  Others require students to provide a signed “ticket” for entry to the lecture hall.  The tickets are questions about the readings, lecture material, or discussion sections.  Signed one-minute papers at the end of the class also can provide attendance information.  Clicker answers may be counted for participation.
  • Many faculty members feature a participation grade of 7% or more for in-class activities.
  • Ask exam questions about material only covered in lectures.  During the first class period,  make clear that you plan to do this and remind them throughout the semester. 
  • If you distribute an outline or slides in advance, leave empty spots that they can only fill in by attending lecture. As above, be clear to the students that you plan to do this, and ask exam questions on this material. 
  • Some instructors take attendance.  TAs can help with this by noting the presence of their discussion section students who attend the large lecture.
  • End the class by having all the students write an exam question on the material covered in class.  Use these or amended versions on the exam.
  • Utilize an undergraduate student TA to assist you in making the class relevant to the students.  He or she can:
    • help you find examples that resonate with the students
    • conduct brief surveys out of class
    • aggregate survey data from sections or large lectures
    • offer their “take” on the material for five minutes each week

Use the competition feature of clickers

  • Have students compete in sections and give a running total.  Determine some sort of reward system for the section that gets the best attendance.
  • Require students on different sides of the room to compete.  Students generally gravitate to the same spot.  A faculty member who does this remarked that often allegiances are formed through this.
  • Do battle of the sexes competitions – this fires up a lot of people.

Play games like “Jeopardy” or “Who wants to be a Millionaire?” to review material.  This site gives some good examples of how to utilize popular game show formats.

Use the demographic comparison data splicing function of clickers to show trends, progressions, patterns.  Students find it interesting to see how their peers respond.

Have each student do self-report assessments and then construct a clicker question to determine where all students fall in the course.  Compare the results to recognized norms, national averages etc.

Use the anonymous function of clickers to get opinions about controversial questions.

Record your micro lectures ahead of time and post on ICON.  Require students to listen to these before the lecture meeting so that during the lecture you have more time for question and answer sessions, or other forms of active engagement.

Students working in a group in the classroom.

How do I provide feedback on so many assignments?

  • Not all assignments require large amounts of feedback, but even a few substantive comments can be important for student learning.  Writing “Good,” or “Awkward” on a piece of writing is not particularly helpful to a student.  Indicating why something is good or awkward, however, can provide important feedback that will help them write better in the future.
  • Noting where a student has a good idea and then challenging them with another question also provides a genuine “learning moment.”

How do I collect so many student assignments?

  • Use boxes labeled with the section number (departmental envelope boxes work well) placed on a table in the lecture room.
  • TAs strategically spaced around the room can collect papers from students in their own sections.
  • Boxes in the front of the room labeled by section number. Require students to write their TA's name in the upper right hand corner of each paper.
  • ICON can help you collect and return student work efficiently.  View which students have turned in their assignments and when.
  • Turnitin.com can be used to collect assignments, as well as provide information regarding plagiarism.

How do I know if students are learning?

  • Use some form of Class Assessment, the simplest of which is the Minute Paper. At the end of a class session, students answer these two questions (or some variation) on a piece of paper to hand in: What was the most important thing you learned today? What questions remain?
  • Professor Jim Craig (Psychology) writes about Minute Papers http://www.oncourseworkshop.com/Awareness012.htm,  “I understand [student] knowledge of the subject better, and I believe it helps me improve my lectures and the course accordingly.”

Are there other ways to give exams besides paper and Exam Services?

ICON has a test feature.  It can scramble test questions, the time for question responses can be limited, and there is a lock-down feature which will prohibit students from doing anything else on their computer while they take the quiz. 

What if there are students who need a lot more attention than the average student?

Sometimes students in large classes can be disruptive. What can I do?

  • Bad Manners in the Classroom
  • At the beginning of the semester, invite all the students to create a few guidelines for classroom behavior, focusing on respect, active engagement, and academic honesty.  Post the guidelines on the course ICON site.
  • Don’t ignore bad manners in the classroom.  Students who are paying attention and engaged in classroom interactions will expect you to take action.
  • Before you are faced with behavioral challenges, imagine how you will respond to them. Such challenges may concern grades, your teaching or authority, delivery, or relevance of the subject.  Practice appropriate responses before you need to actually use them during class.
  • If a student is reading non-course material, surfing the web, or distracting neighbors, ask them to talk with you after class.  If necessary, require them to come talk with you during office hours.
  • Make clear the appropriate use of technology.  Ask students to turn off cell phones prior to class.  If you are worried that students are not using laptops to take notes but to answer emails or surf the Internet, ask them a question related to the day’s discussion.
  • If all students have access to computers during class, incorporate challenging questions that require them to use the Internet.
  • As you lecture, move up the aisles and “mingle” with your students.
  • Invite a student or a team of students to “take over” the class for a few minutes and then go sit in the back of the class.
  • As in any size class, if a student is sufficiently disruptive, contact the appropriate University of Iowa office.