Large Classes: Addressing Common Challenges

 LARGE CLASSES: ADDRESSING COMMON CHALLENGES

Teaching a large class is an exciting opportunity to expose a large number of students to your discipline. Large classes not only bring together lots of students from different majors and academic interests, but with diverse personal backgrounds and perspectives as well. Teaching a large class does not mean that you have to abandon a commitment to community building, active learning, and personalized feedback. Many of these and other equity-minded techniques can be used in large classes, with some modification. 

So, how do we use what is positive about large classes to support student success?

On this page, we will cover:

  1. Creating Community in Large Classes
  2. Using Active Learning in Large Classes 
  3. Managing the Grading Workload
  4. References

 

Creating Community in Large Classes

Research has shown that when students feel connected to their instructor, classmates, and the course material, they are more motivated within the course, achieve higher grades, and are more likely to continue on to the following semester (Pedler, et al. 2022; Garriott et al., 2021; Morrow & Ackermann, 2012; Zumbrunn et al., 2014). Feelings of belongingness have also been found to contribute to higher levels of student engagement, especially for first-generation college students (Gillen-O’Neel, 2021). 

Before the Semester Starts

Creating an environment in which students feel connected to you can start before the first day of class. One way to do this is to let the students know a little bit about your background and interests. You can do this in Canvas by doing things like updating your profile with your picture, creating an “About Me” standalone page with pictures and information about yourself, or sending a welcome message or video to students before the first day of class. You can also encourage students to update their profile with a picture of themselves and to record their name so you can learn the correct pronunciation. 

First Day of Class

The first day of class is also a great time to start building community among students. In addition to feeling connected to you and the course, research has also demonstrated the positive benefits of peer-to-peer connections for students (Maunder, 2018). 

Icebreakers

Designing an icebreaker or other “getting to know you” activity in class or on Canvas is one way for students to begin to create relationships with one another in a large class. Since there is not enough time to go around the room and have every student answer an icebreaker question in a large class, there are a few ways to modify this type of activity to maximize student interaction. In person, you can assign students to small groups (usually no more than four students) and have them complete the icebreaker activity in “speed rounds,” where the instructor gives the groups a set amount of time to share their answers before they move on to form another group. Repeat this until most everyone has met each other (if possible given the size of the class). This activity could also be replicated using Zoom breakout rooms for online, synchronous classes. If the icebreaker/getting to know you activity will be completed asynchronously on Canvas, consider putting the students into smaller discussion groups so students can meaningfully respond to everyone in their group.

Examples of icebreaker prompts and other activities that CSUN instructors have used to build community and engage students on the first day of class can be found in the Making the Most of the First Day section of the Building Community teaching toolkit entry. The First Day Checklist is also a resource to consider when planning your first class meeting.

During the Semester

As the semester gets into full swing, continue to build relationships with students so they do not get lost in the crowd of a large class. 

Communication with Students 

Start by learning the correct pronunciation of students' names and using them in class. Even learning a few names will help personalize the classroom for everyone. 

The following are some of the strategies to make learning student names more manageable in a large class.

  • Students tend to sit in similar areas of the class, so have them fill out a seating chart.
  • Bring thick cardstock for students to create name tags that they bring to class and place on their desk each class period for the first few weeks.
  • Create a Padlet exercise where students upload their picture and name.
  • Have students repeat their name the first few times they participate in class. Remind the students that you want to get to know them and that asking for their names before they participate will help you do that. 

In addition to what happens during class time, you can continue to demonstrate your availability to students, especially around the first exam or major assignment. Using technology like Early Alerts or the Remind Links to an external site. app can help manage communication with a large number of students. These tools help keep the lines of communication open between you and students who may be in trouble, but they are also a way to send a quick note of encouragement to students who are on the cusp of grade levels or an acknowledgement for students who have put in hard work on a particular exam or assessment. 

 

 

Using Active Learning in Large Classes 

Research has shown that when students engage in meaningful learning activities in the classroom, they learn more and get better grades (Silberman, 1996; Weiman, 2014). Active learning strategies can still be used in large classes, while not significantly adding to your workload. 

So, how do we encourage students to actively engage with the instructor and their classmates in courses where they may feel intimidated by the size of the class?

Encouraging Student Participation 

Getting students engaged and comfortable participating in the large lecture setting is important to establish early in the semester. There are a variety of low- and high-tech ways to encourage student participation in a large class. For a low-tech option, students can hold up different color cards or cards with A, B, or C on them to indicate their answers to a multiple-choice question. Using multiple choice polls in web-based tools like Zoom or Poll Everywhere is a way to solicit quick, real-time feedback from your students. Having students work with visualizer tools such as Padlet Links to an external site., Flip Links to an external site., and Google Slides Links to an external site. are other low-stakes ways for students to compare their perspectives to their classmates’.

For more in-depth reflections, instructors can gather student responses by creating a graded or ungraded survey in Canvas where students will respond to a discussion prompt. Instructors can see responses in real time, which can be used as a jumping-off point to encourage participation. 

Facilitating Active Learning Groups

Students in large classes can still engage in active learning activities, with some modification. For example, if students are working in small groups, instead of having every group share out, assign each group a number ahead of time and select a few numbers at random to report out. This strategy provides the benefits of collaborative, cooperative, and problem-based learning while also facilitating community building among students. 

Creating pairs, pods, or small groups of students in a large class can help mimic the small class feel. Think-pair-share is one of the quintessential active learning strategies that can help increase students’ willingness to share their thoughts in a large class. If you are able to move the furniture of the classroom, exponential think-pair-share is a way to modify this activity in a way that can leverage the size of the class to enhance student engagement. 

Students can also collaborate with each other in shared Google Docs Links to an external site.. To keep the groups manageable, create the student groups ahead of time along with individual Google Docs for each group to work in together. 

 

Managing the Grading Workload

One hesitation that faculty might have about moving from lecture-based instruction to active learning in a large class is the potential increase in grading workload. There are a few ways to make the grading more manageable in large classes. If students are working in small groups in class, have them upload or link to what they are working on to Canvas or CSUNbox. If they are working on a problem on a whiteboard or on paper, have one student in the group take a picture of what they are working on and upload it and assign points to each member of the group. 

Another way to assess students in large classes is to have students assess themselves. This strategy not only reduces your grading workload, but also gives students the chance to practice metacognition as well. If students have specific and clear guidelines ahead of time, they can assess themselves on virtually any aspect of class, including the understanding of course concepts, their effort put forth in the class, and verbal and nonverbal participation, to name a few. Using the Graded Survey tool in Canvas works well for self-assessments and instructors can set the assignment so that students automatically receive full credit if they complete the survey. If students are instructed to assign themselves a grade, you can scan through the responses and either confirm their assessment or provide brief feedback if you decide to assign them a higher or lower grade.

 

 

References

Garriott, P. O., Ko, S.-J., Grant, S. B., Jessen, M., & Allan, B. A. (2021). When race and class collide: Classism and social-emotional experiences of first-generation college students. Links to an external site. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 1–14. 

Gillen-O’Neel, C. (2021). Sense of belonging and student engagement: A daily study of first- and continuing-generation college students. Links to an external site. Research in Higher Education, 62(1), 45–71. 

Maunder, R. E. (2018). Students’ peer relationships and their contribution to university adjustment: The need to belong in the university community. Links to an external site. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 42(6), 756–768.

Morrow, J. A., & Ackermann, M. E. (2012). Intention to persist and retention of first-year students: The importance of motivation and sense of belonging. Links to an external site. College Student Journal, 46(3), 483–491. (CSUN credentials required to access this link)

Pedler, M. L., Willis, R., & Nieuwoudt, J. E. (2022). A sense of belonging at university: Student retention, motivation and enjoyment. Links to an external site. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 46(3), 397–408. 

Silberman, M. (1996). Active learning: 101 strategies to teach any subject. Allyn and Bacon.

Wieman, C. E. (2014). Large-scale comparison of science teaching methods sends clear message. Links to an external site. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 111(23), 8319–8320. 

Zumbrunn, S., McKim, C., Buhs, E., & Hawley, L. R. (2014). Support, belonging, motivation, and engagement in the college classroom: A mixed method study. Links to an external site. Instructional Science, 42, 661–684.