Work-in-Progress: Optimizing Student Engagement During Small Group Activities in Lecture Settings

Abstract

When attempting to orchestrate lessons that move between front of the class instruction and short, small group activities in large lecture environments, instructors have three sources of student engagement to monitor and maintain. Instructors must preserve student engagement while transitioning the class from focusing on instructor-centric explanations of course content and activity requirements to actively assembling themselves into small groups. Once in the groups, the instructor must monitor whether the groups have the resources to engage with the activities. After the lesson, the instructor must have a way of reviewing each group’s efforts and provide feedback to sustain learner engagement into the next session. We designed the Achievements activity platform to support instructors interested in using ad hoc group activities in their large lecture courses. We tested the platform with 241 students across three undergraduate courses and found its features met the instructors’ orchestration of learning demands.