Large Group Participation
It is widely known that with regard to learning, what the student does is more significant than what the lecturer does; and that "effective teachers must know how to get students actively engaged in learning activities that are appropriate for the desired outcome(s)." (Schuel 1986, p.429-430). All well and good if you have a small class of a dozen or so students whom you can speak to directly, and who can speak to each other, share a desk and work together. But what if you have a class of hundreds of students in a lecture hall? Opportunities for direct communication with individual students seem limited. There will not be time for everyone to contribute; some students might be too far away for you to hear (or even see!) clearly. Students may have limited space to work, or else be too spread out to talk to each other.
In order to address these problems, we need to think again about what student participation is, why it is an indispensable part of the learning process, and what the role of large-group sessions is in the student's overall learning experience. With that grounding in place, we can consider a range of ways to promote student participation where classroom sessions are predominantly with large groups. We will examine solutions that are high-tech and low-tech, innovative and familiar; ones that take place in the classroom, and ones that go beyond it.
Alignment to UKPSF: A1, A2, A4, K2, K3, K4, V3
Time: 3pm - 4pm
Date: Wednesday 5th May, 2021
Venue: Online (You will receive an invitation 24 hours before the workshop takes place)
Book your place here
Dr. Peter FosseyLink opens in a new window
Pete is an Associate Professor in the Academic Development Centre (ADC), in Senate House. He has been an Academic Developer since 2018, and is a Programme Lead on APP TE. He earned his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Warwick in 2015.
email: p.j.fossey@warwick.ac.uk