1. Chris Malone Psychology Department
Taming the Masses: Organizational and teaching strategies for large classes
Chris Malone Psychology Department

2. What does the research say
What does the research say? (from Stanley & Porter’s (2002) brief review of the research)
Large classes can be just as effective for student learning as small classes
Students rate the following as important instructional dimensions in large classes:
An effective, involved instructor
High level of organization
High degree of interaction between students & instructor
Effective use of examples

3. What makes a “good” instructor?
To help make a large class successful, students say a professor should:
Be experienced and knowledgeable
Be concerned about students
Be available for students
Have a high level of enthusiasm and energy
Be a good speaker—easy to understand, interesting, a good communicator

4. Essential resources for effective learning in large classes (as rated by students)
An excellent textbook
Test reviews/study guides
Visual aids
Lecture notes

5. My teaching approach
Prep, prep, prep….increases knowledge, clarity of delivery, and repertoire of examples
Impose and maintain high level of organization
Increase interaction with in-class activities and demonstrations

6. My strategies for getting & staying organized
A thorough (wordy) syllabus specifies
Contact information ( , office hours)
Course policies (make-up exams, grading, extra credit, conduct)
Due dates for reading assignments, written assignments, and exams
A course website
Duplicates syllabus information
Contains additional resources
Decreases paper
Additional resources provided by website (SHOW THESE)
syllabus
Announcements
Extra Credit Options and procedures
Review questions??
Outlines for students Answer keys for exams
grade sheets
Keeps my PowePoint presentations as well
B/4 Presentation—Save in Favorites
Malone home page—
Instructor Powerpoints for
Browse other class webpages
231/232 Jeopardy review 232 links to extended problems/examples
342 weblinks to cool internet sites—Exploratorium link in levels of processing chapter

7. My strategies for increasing student involvement
Many short video clips
Some concepts can be demonstrated using student volunteers
A series of do-it-yourself activities that force students to think about and apply the material….They also reinforce attendance.
Sometimes the activities also require students to interact with others in small groups.
Demonstrations—reinforce student volunteers with a small amount of extra credit
Hemholtz—motor messages from person to person
Operant conditioning through shaping
Disprove the notion of REPRODUCTIVE MEMORY—storytelling exercise

8. Final thoughts
Course development is an investment…HUGE time investment on the front-end.
Course development is a PROCESS that takes TIME….Do it in layers.
Course development is a trial-and-error process.