Large Lecture Course Research Articles

Active Learning Modules for Large Lecture Courses: Implementing the New Essentials.

Active Learning Modules for Large Lecture Courses: Implementing the New Essentials.

Utilizing AI to Foster Informal Learning and Assessment in Large Lecture Courses

Utilizing AI to Foster Informal Learning and Assessment in Large Lecture Courses

Investigating the impact of a gamified learning analytics dashboard: Student experiences and academic achievement

AbstractBackgroundThe substantial growth in gamification research has connected gamified learning to enhanced engagement, improved performance, and greater motivation. Similar to gamification, personalized learning analytics dashboards can enhance student engagement.ObjectivesThis study explores the student experiences and academic achievements using a gamified dashboard in a large, introductory STEM course.MethodsWe examined two groups of students enrolled in different sections of a one‐semester‐long physical geology course with a total enrollment of 223 students. The only difference between the groups was that one had access to the dashboard. The data collection included students' assignments, overall performances, and exam scores. Students in both sections completed a Science Literacy Concept Inventory survey at the beginning and end of the term. Additionally, students completed an end‐of‐term survey containing open‐ended questions on their experience and interactions with specific elements.ResultsStudents shared mostly positive comments about their experience with the dashboard, and the final grade of students with access to the dashboard was 13% higher, on average, compared to their peers in the non‐dashboard section.ConclusionWith low costs and little time invested, gamified dashboards could have a significant impact on student performance in large STEM lecture courses.

Building an inclusive community of learners by centering a strong culture of care in large lecture classes

Foundational and early university STEM courses are usually taught as large lecture courses. For many students, especially students from marginalized identity groups, a large course can be an impersonal experience that leaves students with a low sense of belonging, negatively impacting academic performance and retention in the discipline. In this paper, we present specific interventions and practices—cultivated through years of intentional iteration by multiple faculty—to build a community of learners that care for one another in a large foundational Biology course. We define our “culture of care” as building and maintaining a class structure and climate that empowers students to form relationships that provide emotional support and meet affective needs. We believe this allows students to persist and succeed in the course, and helps to build an understanding of how course material will lead to achievement of their intrinsic academic and career goals. We believe these interventions and practices leverage the unique benefits of large class sizes, including the diversity of students present and the power of shared positive group experiences. In this paper, we describe key aspects of the current course, including (1) pedagogical choices that help students invest in their learning and focus on key scientific skills, (2) training faculty and undergraduate assistant members of the teaching team to build a community that cares, and (3) designing assignments that focus on well-being and teamwork. Throughout this paper, we hope to provide a template that can be adapted to different disciplines and institutions for designing large lecture courses that are inclusive, engaging, and emotionally supportive.

Class participation correlates with academic performance in a Biochemistry and Metabolism course for first-year veterinary school students

The objective of the current study was to investigate whether class participation correlates with academic performance in a Biochemistry and Metabolism Course for first-year veterinary school students. Veterinary Biochemistry and Metabolism is a required course for first-year veterinary students at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. The course is a large lecture course with approximately 100 students enrolled each year. Topics covered in the course include the metabolism of carbohydrates, nucleic acids, lipids, proteins, vitamins, and microminerals. In the fall of 2021, students had three options for lecture attendance. Students could attend in person, could listen to lectures streamed live, or could watch lectures at a later time since class sessions were all recorded. To increase engagement in the course, students receive Poll Everywhere questions during most of the lectures in this course. These questions were mainly in multiple-choice format and delivered to students at various times (beginning, middle, and end) during the class. Students who earned A, B, or C grades were compared with how often those cohorts participated in the Poll Everywhere questions. The results indicate that students who earned an A in the course have statistically significant higher participation in Poll Everywhere questions when compared to students who earned a B or C. The results do not distinguish between students who attended the lecture in person and those who watched the live stream since all those students could answer the Poll Everywhere questions during class time. The results demonstrate an association between class participation and academic performance. Namely, higher involvement as measured by answering Poll Everywhere question participation increases the likelihood of getting an A. Many professional schools (medical, dental, and veterinary) routinely record most lectures and do not require attendance. While lecture recordings may provide a valuable study tool for students, these results suggest that students who do not actively engage with class material miss an opportunity to maximize learning. No funding to disclose This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Students and Teachers: An Interview with Aranye Fradenburg Joy

This piece highlights Aranye Fradenburg’s formidable pedagogic talent as an undergraduate instructor in medieval English studies, and especially Chaucer. After sharing some of the rewards of serving as a teaching assistant during the ‘90s at the University of California at Santa Barbara for a large lecture course on the Canterbury Tales taught by Aranye, I summarize a recent exchange with Berkeley professor Maura Nolan, who experienced Aranye undergraduate training first-hand during the 80s, when Maura was a student at Dartmouth. I then turn to the centerpiece of this contribution, my interview with Aranye on August 5, 2022, in which she comments on both the thinking that informed her UCSB undergraduate pedagogy and the lessons she gleaned as both a student and as a teacher of literary, cultural, and historical criticism.

The development of sociomathematical norms in the transition to tertiary exam-oriented individualistic mathematics education in an East Asian context

This study investigates social, mathematical, and sociomathematical norms perceived by college students in an engineering mathematics course and examines the students’ sense of mathematics as signals of individual merit. Data sources include a survey and one-on-one interviews with 38 students. The findings help illustrate student perceptions of academic social norms in a large-lecture course represented by the acquisition model of learning in college, detached from communal and collaborative disciplinary practices. Findings provide insights into the local educational context of an East Asian country as a case study when exam-oriented mathematics is institutionalized as normalcy.

Use of short videos and case studies to enhance student confidence in biochemistry knowledge and application in a large lecture biochemistry course in first year veterinary curriculum.

Large lecture courses are an efficient way to convey material to many students but have potential limitations, most notably the tendency for them to promote passive learning opportunities rather than active pedagogies. The curriculum at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, like many veterinary schools, contains many large lecture courses in the pre-clinical curriculum. This objective of this study was to use two active pedagogical interventions in a first-year lecture course named Veterinary Biochemistry and Metabolism that drew connections between basic science and several veterinary diseases. The first intervention targeted increasing students' intrinsic motivation and their confidence with understanding biochemistry concepts using videos created via collaborations between students, staff, and clinical and basic science faculty. The second intervention targeted active and collaborative learning via the implementation of clinical case studies completed in groups to relate lecture content to clinical scenarios with the aim of further enhancing student confidence in their knowledge of the material. To assess the effectiveness of these two interventions, pre-and post-course surveys using Likert style questions were administered to evaluate student confidence in the targeted concepts. The post-survey included open-ended responses on students' perspectives on their most important takeaways from the activities and their suggestions for improvements. The data showed a positive impact of these interventions on student motivation and confidence in their knowledge. This study provides support that targeted interventions to increase active learning strategies increase student engagement and may improve learning efficacy in large lecture courses.

Reimagining Assessment in a Large Lecture: An Alternative Approach Inspired by Thomas Jefferson and Maria Montessori

In large lecture courses, it can be challenging to imagine assessing student learning in ways other than multiple-choice exams and traditional point-based grading. Inspired by major pedagogical principles shared by Maria Montessori and Thomas Jefferson and supported by current understandings of effective teaching, assessment was reimagined in a large introductory-level child psychology course to allow for free choice and active engagement. Instead of exams, students created a short scientific essay each week on what most interested them; essays were assessed using a short rubric and sampling techniques. Instead of traditional point-based grading, specifications grading was used. These changes, dubbed the JeffMonte method, were associated with better student performance, were received positively by students, and increased instructor satisfaction.

Podcasting for Social Justice: An Interview Series

Podcasts support inclusivity and access in classrooms in several ways. For instance, students from oral cultures or for whom English is not a first language may find listening more accessible than reading, students can multitask while listening to course material, and students can become exposed to new perspectives. Instructors should be intentional about curating diverse voices in the podcasts they assign. Furthermore, instructors can create podcasts to form a more personal connection with students in a large lecture course or online course. Finally, instructors can assign students to create a podcast as a course project, which can support students’ connections with each other and with community members, and help them see themselves as knowledge creators with perspectives worth sharing with the world. In this series, you will read about the advantages of using podcasts to support social justice in the classroom. You will hear stories from instructors and students who have used podcasting in the classroom in various ways to support social justice learning.

Context Matters: Influence of Undergraduates’ Approaches, Experiences, and Expectations on the LA Model in Large Enrollment Science Courses

The Learning Assistant (LA) model was designed to facilitate the innovative use of active learning in large lecture courses by training and integrating undergraduate near-peer instructors called Learning Assistants (LAs). We analyze the LA model in the context of the course learning activities, their influence on student outcomes, and students’ expectations for the course. We used results from a large-scale survey to model expectations, course activities, and outputs in the form of course satisfaction and final grades, and drew from interviews, classroom observations, and student focus groups to make sense of the model results. Quantitative results revealed a small positive effect of LAs on final grade when only LAs were input into the statistical model. However, when the influence of students’ perceptions of their professor, their teaching fellow (TF), and their own study habits were included, the effect of LAs was mitigated. Qualitative results showed that while undergraduates reported that they felt more comfortable asking LAs questions about course material, many still focused on grades over conceptual understanding. LAs championed small group work more than their teaching partners, but the effectiveness of the LAs to encourage group work was linked to the TF’s approach to teaching. Results suggest that the expectations of the students, teaching staff, and the course activities and assessments can impact the effectiveness of the LA model.

Splicing it together: Using primary data to explore RNA splicing and gene expression in large-lecture introductory biology

At the heart of scientific ways of knowing is the systematic collection and analysis of data, which is then used to propose an explanation of how the world works. In this two-day module, students in a large-lecture course are immersed in a biological problem related to the Central Dogma and gene expression. Specifically, students interpret experimental data in small groups, and then use those data to craft a scientific argument to explain how alternative splicing of a transcription factor gene may contribute to human cancer. Prior to the module, students are assigned a reading and provided PowerPoint slides outlining the basics of alternative splicing and refreshing their understanding of gene regulation. Students complete a pre-class assignment designed to reinforce basic terminology and prepare them for interpreting scientific models. Each day of the module, students are presented experimental data or biological models which they interpret in small groups, use to vote for viable hypotheses using clickers, and ultimately leverage in a culminating summary writing task requiring them to craft a data-driven answer to the biological problem. Despite the novelty of the argumentation module, students engage in all aspects (inside and outside of the classroom) of the activity and are connected across data, hypotheses, and course concepts to explain the role of alternative splicing in gene expression and cancer. <em>Primary image:&nbsp;</em>Splicing it together.&nbsp;Students work together, interpreting primary data and models to investigate the effects alternative splicing may have on gene regulation and cancer.

PSII-B-20 Benefits of a lecture teaching assistant in hiflex courses

The Covid-19 pandemic has required implantation of online education strategies, even for animal science courses, that are traditionally delivered face-to-face (F2F). As universities reopened many students were given the option of attending classes either F2F or remotely via live stream. This scenario, where some students are present in-person while others are present online simultaneously, is referred to as hiflex teaching. Face-to-face and online teaching strategies are established and literature contains pedagogical information, however hiflex teaching presents previously unencountered challenges. It can be difficult for instructors to maintain engagement with, essentially, two separative audiences of students. The objective was to address this issue by providing a graduate teaching assistant (TA) to large lecture courses, where traditionally TA positions were reserved only for lab courses. The hypothesis was that this would enable both audiences to receive appropriate focus. In this study, a TA attended the F2F lecture for an introductory equine science course (total students: n = 75; remote students: n= ~55), with the role of monitoring the simultaneous Zoom session with remote students. We found that questions from remote students increased when they had the ability to post them in real-time using the Zoom chat feature, as opposed waiting for a break in instruction in F2F situations. Having the TA present in the classroom enabled them to answer basic questions via Zoom, and to interact with the instructor should a question arise online that would benefit all students in the course. This allowed the instructor to effectively teach without taking up valuable class time alternating between programs on the computer and risking missing an online student question. This approach received positive feedback from the instructor and students alike. Additionally, it provided a novel teaching experience for a graduate TA. Similar strategies may be used to help to facilitate future success in hiflex courses.

The American Short Story and Me

The American Short Story and Me

It’s time to (climate) change the way we teach

This article outlines pedagogical practices and methodologies for increasing student engagement in the classroom and in the broader community on the topic of climate change. The emphases are placed on (1) preliminary assessments of student understanding and emotional responses to the topic of climate change, (2) assignments that enable student groups to assess and increase campus-wide awareness of various aspects of climate change, and (3) public engagement and service-learning opportunities that allow students to expand their impact beyond the local campus and into their broader community. These practices have proven effective, for large format lecture courses as well as smaller seminar-style courses, in encouraging student participation, overcoming apathy and motivating student effort and action far beyond what can be stimulated by traditional classroom assignments and assessments.

‘Forced to think’—an analysis of how students benefit from online warm-up exercises with feedback

Active learning yields better learning outcomes than traditional, lecture-based teaching. Common approaches in large lecture courses are activating elements during the lectures and warm-up activities using online learning environments. However, implementing warm-up exercises, on which students work on by themselves makes formative feedback increasingly important. We have studied students’ views on warm-up online exercises, focusing on the role of automated feedback. We compared two types of feedback: feedback which guided the student towards the correct answer and feedback that guided the student towards the correct reading materials. We have also examined the correlation between students’ views on the exercises and learning outcomes, as measured by exercise and exam points. The exercises were administered with a Moodle-based system focusing on teaching and assessment using a computer-based algebra kernel. The study was conducted during the first introductory mechanics course in physics at the University of Helsinki. We concluded that the preferred type of feedback was dependent on the student, i.e. different students prefer different kinds of feedback. Importantly, the students who completed the exercises alone reported benefiting more from them, which shows that the warm-up exercises successfully extended support for students outside of classroom hours.

Teaching Physiology in a Large Lecture During Covid: The Power of Reflection and Learning Who My Students Are

The year 2020 brought challenges to every facet of our daily lives, and higher education was no exception. As a member of the teaching faculty at a large, diverse, and multicultural university, it was an overwhelming task to make the online experience in a large lecture course as impactful as it was when offered in person. Systems Physiology at Rutgers University is a junior/senior level course for exercise science majors and a recommended elective for students considering the health professions. In the fall 2020 semester, I wanted to do something beyond teaching physiology. I reached out to my network of friends and colleagues in the professional world of healthcare, science, and education. Between March 2020 and August 2020, I conducted twelve interviews with individuals in different avenues of the science and healthcare world – one medical student, two physician assistants, one physical therapist, one athletic trainer, two physicians, one dentist, one medical researcher, one pharmacist, one high school chemistry teacher, and one coach. Students were required to watch at least two of the interviews. The assignment worth ten percent of their grade was to write a one-page reflection on the impact of these two interviews along with a self-reflection of where they are in discerning their own career path. Student feedback on the assignment was overwhelmingly positive, with one student commenting that “this was an assignment I did not even realize I needed.” An unintended outcome of this assignment was that I was able to learn so much more about the backgrounds, motivations, challenges, and aspirations of the students in my course. I intend to assign and improve on this reflection writing in the future and encourage others, in this distracted, fast-paced world, to challenge their students to pause and reflect.

What Type of Debrief is Best for Learning during Think-Pair-Shares?

Copious research demonstrates the benefits of adding active learning to traditional lectures to enhance learning and reduce failure/withdrawal rates. However, many questions remain about how best to implement active learning to maximize student outcomes. This paper investigates several “second generation” questions regarding infusing active learning, via Think-Pair-Share (TPS), into a large lecture course in Computer Science. During the “Share” phase of TPS, what is the best way to debrief the associated course concepts with the entire class? Specifically, does student learning differ when instructors debrief the rationale for every answer choice (full debrief) versus only the correct answer (partial debrief)? And does the added value for student outcomes vary between tasks requiring recall versus deeper comprehension and/or application of concepts? Regardless of discipline, these questions are relevant to instructors implementing TPS with multiple-choice questions, especially in large lectures. Similar to prior research, when lectures included TPS, students performed significantly better (~13%) on corresponding exam items. However, students’ exam performance depended on both the type of debrief and exam questions. Students performed significantly better (~5%) in the full debrief condition than the partial debrief condition. Additionally, benefits of the full debrief condition were significantly stronger (~5%) for exam questions requiring deeper comprehension and/or application of underlying Computer Science processes, compared to simple recall. We discuss these results and lessons learned, providing recommendations for how best to implement TPS in large lecture courses in STEM and other disciplines.

What Type of Debrief is Best for Learning during Think-Pair-Shares?

Copious research demonstrates the benefits of adding active learning to traditional lectures to enhance learning and reduce failure/withdrawal rates. However, many questions remain about how best to implement active learning to maximize student outcomes. This paper investigates several “second generation” questions regarding infusing active learning, via Think-Pair-Share (TPS), into a large lecture course in Computer Science. During the “Share” phase of TPS, what is the best way to debrief the associated course concepts with the entire class? Specifically, does student learning differ when instructors debrief the rationale for every answer choice (full debrief) versus only the correct answer (partial debrief)? And does the added value for student outcomes vary between tasks requiring recall versus deeper comprehension and/or application of concepts? Regardless of discipline, these questions are relevant to instructors implementing TPS with multiple-choice questions, especially in large lectures. Similar to prior research, when lectures included TPS, students performed significantly better (~13%) on corresponding exam items. However, students’ exam performance depended on both the type of debrief and exam questions. Students performed significantly better (~5%) in the full debrief condition than the partial debrief condition. Additionally, benefits of the full debrief condition were significantly stronger (~5%) for exam questions requiring deeper comprehension and/or application of underlying Computer Science processes, compared to simple recall. We discuss these results and lessons learned, providing recommendations for how best to implement TPS in large lecture courses in STEM and other disciplines.

Remembering in the Second Shift

Remembering in the Second Shift