Activities for Large Class

Teaching large class requires a lot of energy and strategies to engage individual students. Some activities are specifically designed for large class and may come in handy when you have to teach one.

Think-pair-share

Teaching with Clickers

A clicker is a tool used to promote active learning. The clicker using at the HKUST is called Personal Response System (PRS). Using the clicker, students in a classroom or a lecture theatre can respond to questions posed by the instructors with the click of a button, all at the same time. This provides a means:

• for the instructor to instantly assess students' understanding of the subject matter;
• for the instructor to collect instant feedback from every one of his/her students;
• for students to participate actively in class.

Why use clickers in your teaching?

Clickers can make a real difference in your teaching. Clickers are for you if you want:

• your students to pay attention to what you say in class;
• 100% participation in question-and-answer sessions;
• your students to pay attention to what you say in class;
• 100% participation in question-and-answer sessions;
• immediate feedback and reinforcement;
• automatic attendance check;
• automatic recording of student answers;
• a lesson to be reasonably understood before going to the next one;
• test or quiz results to be prompt, with automatic grading;
• shy and disadvantaged students to be proactive;
• students' opinions and preferences to be instant;
• continuous monitoring of students' progresses, both individually and as a group;
• to encourage peer instruction in your lectures.

Resources:

1. Teaching Large class on the first day, Iowa State University.
2. The Large Class Challenge Series: How to be an Imaginative Course Designer?, HKUST
3. The Large Class Challenge Series: Teaching UGs Inside & Outside Classroom, HKUST
4. The Large Class Challenge Series: Teaching for engagement and catering for differences, HKUST