Teaching Large or Hybrid Classes

Teaching Large Classes

---

The Challenge of Teaching Large Classes

Teaching large-enrollment can be particularly challenging, especially for new and inexperienced faculty members. Recent budget constraints have often resulted in fewer faculty teaching classes with larger and larger enrollment.

Strategies for Teaching Large Lecture Classes

Berkeley offers tips for teaching large lecture courses. View an online video from the Center for Teaching Excellence of the University of South Carolina on “Under the Big Top: What to Do with the Large Lecture.”

Alternative Strategies for Teaching Large Classes

Other teaching strategies offer alternatives or supplements to courses that are strictly lecture. The LEARN Center of the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater offers 78 strategies that can help when teaching large classes. The Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College gives a number of strategies. UNC-Charlotte has compiled a wealth of information on teaching large classes.

Resources

Bibliography on Lecturing Large Classes

How to Speak: Lecture Tips from Patrick Winston

The Act of Teaching, Part 1: Theatre Techniques for Classrooms and Presentations

The Art of Discussion Leading: A Class with Chris Christensen.

What is a Hybrid Course?

A hybrid or blended course is one that combines face-to-face instruction with web-based content and activities. Hybrid courses are becoming increasingly popular as a teaching format because moving a significant amount of the learning activities online means more class time can be devoted to applying basic content knowledge and activities that promote higher levels of thinking, and there is increasing evidence of their effectiveness. For a discussion of the advantages of the hybrid model, read the article, “Introduction to Hybrid Courses” by Carla Garnham and Robert Kaleta or visit the webpage.

Designing Hybrid Instruction

If you are considering using a hybrid format for a course, The University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee offers tips for how to begin the process of designing your course and 10 questions to consider for redesigning your course as a hybrid course.

Teaching Strategies for Hybrid Courses

However, teaching hybrid courses well requires a change from the traditional approach to teaching face-to-face classes and requires faculty to learn and implement some new instructional strategies. Rob Kelly offers some basic instructional strategies to help tie the two components of a hybrid course together.

Resources

The University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee also lists numerous websites with resources for online learning activities and a bibliography of books and articles related to the hybrid instructional model and hybrid courses.