Slides for the SMCSE staff workshop on engaging large groups in active learning (24/04/17)

1. Engaging large groups
in active learning
Pam Parker, Jo Richardson,
Dominic Pates and Matt Goral

2. Learning Outcomes
By the end of the session you will have:
 Discussed what makes a bad and good large group
teaching experience
 Explored some different techniques to use in the
session to engage students in different activities
 Revised a lesson you currently teach to include
some of today’s examples

3. What makes a good teaching experience?
 In groups of 3-4, reflect on your
large group teaching experiences
 Identify 3 things that you enjoyed or
which worked well
 Nominate a speaker to share one
thing

4. Contribute to today’s session at:
pollev.com/dompates

6. What students don’t like about large group teaching
 Large rooms often are restrictive in with tight rows which
makes interacting with others hard
 The lecturer often feels out of reach at the front and so not
speaking to you
 Others in the room making noises
 Worry about being asked a question and looking stupid
 Lecturers just reading from slides you can look at later

9. Lectures: Ideas for the lecture (sliced up lecture)
 Build in activities to transform information into
learning
 Have a clear structure
 Make lectures more student centred
 Encourage students to ask and answer questions
in large groups
 Have a strategy for dealing with latecomers and
disruptive behaviour
 Make use of Audio-Visual Aids (AVAs) where
possible
 Develop good presentation skills
 Don’t rely on the lecture as the only teaching method.

10. Pairs and then share
 Part way through the session have a problem or question for
students to sit and discuss
 Get them to then turn around to students in front or behind
and share their discussion
 Ask all groups to be ready to share and then ask some
groups to feedback and ask other groups opinions

11. Standing up/ making a line
 Part way through the session probably best before a break
have a question with an agree / disagree and ask students
to stand up if they agree
Or
 If you have some possible answers make students move to
different parts of the room for the answer they would give
 This might enable you to see where a little more explanation
is needed after the break

12. One or three minute paper
 This is useful to get
student to summarise
knowledge part way
through so after a break.
 Get them to write down key
things they have learnt
from the session so far and
may be one thing they feel
they don’t quite get

13. Real Life Cases and Problem Solving
 Get students in groups to work on some case studies or
problems for a period of around 12 – 15 minutes (Turn
around to work with each other in groups of 5-6)
 Walk around the room while they do this

18. Flipped Classroom
 This is an approach to actively engage students in their
learning and use the class time more effectively and for
discussion.
 Provide the material and concepts prior to a session and tell
them you will not go over any of the content again but
assume they have done the work
 You then use class time for application and real life case
studies

19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a7NbUIr_iQ

20. Group work activity
 We asked you to bring along some lessons you wanted to
change
 In groups of three/four discuss a lesson and how you would
change this
 Be ready to share this at the end

22. LEaD services
MA Academic Practice Learning at City Conference Learning at City blog
Moodle Hub/Online Guidance Weekly Drop-Ins Bespoke Workshops
Every Thursday
13:00– 14:30
A201, College

24. Other sources of information to follow up
 Eric Mazur shows interactive teaching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wont2v_LZ1E (Accessed 12/04/17)
 Enhancing engagement with SCALE-UP (Student Centered Active Learning Environment)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zye6QW30AAA (Accessed 12/04/17)
 Hanover research (2010) Strategies for Teaching Large Undergraduate Classes
https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/facultyhandbook/documents/LargeClasses_StrategiesforTeaching.pdf (Accessed 12/04/17)
 Higher Education Academy Large group teaching https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/enhancement/definitions/large-group-teaching
(Accessed 12/04/17)
 LEaD https://sleguidance.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CL (Accessed 12/04/17)
 Implementing Interactive Activities in a Large Class to Build Community https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReefNPdZwVo
(Accessed 12/04/17)
 Taryn Bayles: Active Learning for Engineering https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e35073NE_w (Accessed 12/04/17)
 What a 'flipped' classroom looks like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_p63W_2F_4 (Accessed 12/04/17)
 Wilson K and Korn J H (2007) Attention During Lectures: Beyond Ten Minutes Teaching of Psychology Vol.34 No.2 p85-89
http://oia.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/2016-08/Beyond%20Ten%20Minutes.pdf (Accessed 12/04/17)