Large Class Engagement

 

What It Is

Large class engagement refers to strategies to actively involve and interact with a large group of learners. This can occur in a variety of contexts, such as large lecture halls, online courses, or workshops. Large class engagement aims to ensure learners participate and connect with the course content, the instructor, and their peers.

Why It Matters

Teaching effectively in large classes can be challenging due to the logistics of engaging hundreds of learners. When minimal interaction occurs between the instructor and learners, learners feel anonymous and isolated, leading to lower motivation, decreased attendance, and less engagement. Learners are more likely to be distracted.

Large classes have unique synergies, where learners from diverse backgrounds collectively create a body of knowledge that exceeds individual contributions. When best practices are applied, this dynamic can foster positive attitudes toward learning. Increasing engagement, through clear learning goals and multiple opportunities for learner interaction, supports learning retention and connection in large classes.

Apply It 

 

  1. Build Rapport. To make large classes feel smaller, foster community.
    • Use strategies like Community Agreements by breaking the class into smaller groups. These smaller learning communities foster connection and support.
    • Ask learners to discuss a question with a nearby peer for a few minutes (think-pair-share). When organizing pair or small group activities, encourage learners to engage with those who might be sitting alone and remind them to introduce themselves.
  2. Plan for a variety of engagement strategies. Create opportunities for learners to engage with their peers, the instructor, and the content. 
    • To support learner engagement with each other, encourage learners to exchange contact information with the learners they sit near in class, provide opportunities for peer feedback, or use peer instruction. 
    • To support learner engagement with the content, use varied modalities in your course. This can include videos, podcasts, discussions, etc. Try Justin-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) to engage students in pre-class activities that uncover prior knowledge allowing class sessions to be tailored to student needs’. 
    • To support learner engagement with the instructor, consider hosting weekly live “office hours” via Zoom, where learners can submit questions beforehand and attend in small groups, enabling more focused interaction.
  3. Provide meaningful feedback. 
    • Use tools like PollEV to encourage questions, or Zoom’s non-verbal reactions to assess understanding. This is helpful in a large class context because it allows instructors to gauge learner comprehension and address confusion in real time, even with a high number of learners.
    • Leverage technology by: Record explanations for challenging problems/content to save class time and provide lasting resources. 
    • Encourage self-reflection through self-assessments, questions, and rubrics. This can save instructors’ time in providing feedback by having learners evaluate their own work first.

Resources

References

ABLConnect (n.d.). Just in Time Teaching. Harvard University. https://ablconnect.harvard.edu/just-time-teaching-research

Berkeley Center for Teaching & Learning (n.d.). Considerations for Large Lecture Classes. UC Berkeley. https://teaching.berkeley.edu/considerations-large-lecture-classes

Center for Teaching Innovation (n.d.). Engaging Students in Large Courses. Cornell University. https://teaching.cornell.edu/teaching-resources/engaging-students/engaging-students-large-courses

Chike, J. (2022). Strategies for Making a Big Class Feel Small. Notre Dame Learning. https://learning.nd.edu/stories/strategies-for-making-a-big-class-feel-small/

Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (2021). Teaching Large Courses Effectively and Efficiently. Columbia University. https://ctl.columbia.edu/resources-and-technology/resources/teaching-large-courses/

Dixson, M. (2015). Measuring student engagement in the online course: The online student engagement scale (OSE). Online Learning, 19(4), https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v19i4.561

Relihan, D. (2019). 5 Tips for Providing Feedback in Large Online Courses. UCI Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation. https://dtei.uci.edu/2019/03/14/5-tips-for-providing-feedback-in-large-online-courses/

Tips for Teaching Large Classes Jenny Lloyd-Strovas, Ph.D. Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development Center Texas Tech University: August, 2015 https://ctl.utexas.edu/sites/default/files/TipsForTeachingLargeClasses.pdf

Wilsman, A. (2013). Teaching Large Classes. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved July 28, 2024 from Internet Archive [https://web.archive.org/web/20240728212021/https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/teaching-large-classes/].

 

Cite This Resource

Studio for Teaching & Learning Innovation. (2025, April). Large class engagement [Teaching resource]. https://stli.wm.edu/academicresources/largeclassengagement

Updated 06/25