Prof David Rossiter
Putting appropriate amount of entertainment into the course is important. It is sometimes difficult to be 'creative' in teaching large class. However, one can create a less serious learning environment by using fun activities to make learning more effective and enjoyable."
Suggestions for Your First Large Class
English might be a problem for some students. Don't just use words. Where applicable, faculty may try to use pictures and other media to improve communication. physical gesture may also help. Prepare fun activities for your large class to make learning more enjoyable. It may take some time to prepare for the activity but it is worthwhile.Department of Computer Science
Course:
COMP303 Internet Computing (112 students)
Format of Weekly Meetings:
- Two 50-minute lectures
- One 2-hour lab session
Preparing Materials
He prepares his materials from the students' perspectives. Students are scared of mathematical symbols, so he tries to show them some real examples or end-products first, then guide them back to the theory part. This way, they can learn better.
Arranging TAs' Work
He lets TAs help the students in solving the Math problems step-by-step during tutorial sessions. This can help students build up their confidence gradually.
Training TAs
He believes good TAs can help a lot in guiding students through the lab sessions. He finds out the expertise of the TAs and assigns appropriate tasks to them. For instance, not all TAs are good at face-to-face training, so he trains some of them to do the preparation work, some to do the marking. Having the same people do the marking can also avoid the inconsistency in grading answers.
Deciding Use of Lab/ Tutorial Sessions
He uses lab and tutorial sessions as "slow go-through" while lectures as "quick go-through". In lab sessions, he focuses on practice by doing particular tasks. In lectures, he introduces concepts by showing previous projects and equivalent algorithms etc.
Managing Class
One problem is that the students are hesitant to ask questions in the class. This may be due to the language problem. One solution he adopts is to point at someone in lecture and asks him or her questions in a mild and fun way. The questions that he asks are not complex but just simple ones to check understanding. Ultimately, he wants to make them think.
Teaching Strategies
He finds that it's difficult to be "creative" in a large class, but he tries to make learning fun for students to lessen the seriousness in lecture. For example, he prepares related awards for the students, like a little paint set for those who do well in color theory.
Assessment
Student assignments are mostly project-based. He emphasizes the importance of looking at both the working process and the final product of these projects. For all assessments, he prepares the marking scheme for TAs to follow. This can help to maintain a consistency in grading answers.
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