All posts tagged Large Enrollment Courses
The Swanson School of Engineering, Bioengineering program, has experienced a surge in enrollment in the past six years. This increase in enrollment, coupled with a new emphasis on critical thinking and analytical skills development in bioengineering students, prompted Lance Davidson to rethink the delivery of his introductory cell biology course. . . . Read more
What’s the best way to teach scientific concepts to the non-science major? How do you attract and keep the attention of students who are most likely in your class simply because they have to fulfill a requirement? And can all this be done in a large lecture class? These kinds . . . Read more
Active learning happens when students engage with course content in ways that promote deep processing and higher level thinking. To Biology professor Valerie Oke, it means making deliberate choices about how to use class time, leveraging the use of peer activities, and emphasizing the value of practice. Professor Oke teaches two . . . Read more
Achieving student interaction and providing opportunities for practice with feedback can be challenging in a large class. Some professors use clickers to keep students actively engaged. Clickers, or student response systems, are hand-held mobile devices that allow students to respond to multiple choice questions included in the instructor’s PowerPoint slides. Students . . . Read more
Large courses with enrollments ranging from 100 to 400 students present challenges for new and seasoned instructors: How is it possible to integrate teaching strategies to promote engagement and lasting learning in a huge auditorium packed with students? For example, Psychology, one of the University’s most popular undergraduate fields, requires . . . Read more
A common perception among faculty is that classes with enrollments of more than 100 are not conducive to student participation, let alone lively discussion. George Bandik, however, has been engaging students in his large chemistry classes for 30 years and still looks forward to opportunities in each class to draw . . . Read more
Twice a week, 200 students, ranging from freshmen to seniors and coming from diverse disciplines, pack the large auditorium in Frick Fine Arts Building to learn about world art. Because many of the students take Introduction to World Art to fulfill the University’s general education requirements, they begin the semester . . . Read more
“The first time was frightening, but it’s like trial by fire. After the first five minutes, you either have to have confidence or you get eaten alive,” according to Beach Gray, of his first experience as a graduate student teaching fellow. Now in his second semester as head lecturer for . . . Read more
SWoRD enables students to get feedback on writing, regardless of class size. Writing, especially in a process that involves feedback and rewriting, is one of the best ways of learning, as evidenced by abundant writing-to-learn literature. Writing also is perceived by many faculty as a more accurate way than testing . . . Read more