Teaching Large Groups Jenny Lorimer Tuesday 7 th June 2011

My Background Professional background as a diagnostic radiographer Teach in School of Health and Emergency Professions Seconded teacher to LTI I teach some very large groups

Aim of the session To stimulate dialogue To consider some benefits and challenges To propose some solutions Traffic light cards

How big is a large group? Over So many students you don’t know their names

Some bad reasons for teaching large groups Effective use of teaching time That’s the way we do it here That’s what happened to me as a student Meets the students expectations that we are going to tell them what they need to know Any others?

Which of these is a good reason for teaching large groups? 1.Stimulates the students’ desire to learn 2.To give a shared experience 3.To give information for future discussions and/or activities 4.To provide a focus for learning 5.For clarification

What do our students do in lectures? 1.Take notes 2.Make notes 3.Sit passively

What do our students really do? Look out the window Look at other students Worry that they don’t understand Worry about other things – money, relationships etc Listen to music Text Browse the internet

What we want our students to do Want to learn Need to learn Learning by doing Getting feedback Making sense of what they have learnt wantingneedingdoingdigestingfeedback

What do we do wrong? 1.Talk on and on... 2.Going too fast or too slow 3.Talking over the student’s heads 4.Not linking to what the student does know 5.Not explaining why they need to know

How do you get interaction is a large group? 1.Electronic voting systems 2.Post-it notes 3.Lining paper for questions 4.Questions as a group activity ‘buzz groups’

Which inappropriate behaviours are most challenging to manage? 1.Learners arriving late 2.Learners talking to each other 3.Getting their attention 4.Dealing with noise 5.Disruptive students

How can we develop our large group teaching? Continuously get feedback from learners Sit in on a colleague’s session Peer observation Use technology Use variety