Teaching Large Groups

Introduction

The growing demand for higher education, an increasingly internationalised higher education environment and the ever-changing aspirations of society have led to an increase in student enrolments. Student enrolment in higher education almost doubled between 2000 and 2018, from 19% to 38%. European universities have had the highest gross enrolment ratio (GER) in recent years, at around 87% (UNESCO, 2022). Large-scale teaching in higher education institutions has become the new normal for many university courses. The impact of this increase in student numbers on the quality of teaching, learning and assessment practices cannot be underestimated. It could be seen as a concern in our quest to achieve SDG4.

This section is written as a handbook that provides essential guidance, resources and information for teachers and educators involved in large scale teaching. The handbook has been developed using data collected from teachers at seven of the nine Unite! alliance partners. The handbook draws on the different but interrelated challenges and opportunities at different universities to help understand how other teachers are managing and dealing with the challenges of teaching at scale. The information in this handbook, examples of good practice and the use of technology to enhance student learning and engagement should help to stimulate and guide communication within and between the Unite! groups in their quest to share best practice. The findings from the study provide some context-specific strategies that could be explored to provide a holistic picture of the situation and to develop a framework that could be used to support teaching on a large scale.

Scope and Aim of the Handbook

The purpose of this handbook is to share ideas from different universities about how large classes are managed, the types of tools used to support student learning and engagement, and new ways of supporting teaching and learning in large classes. The handbook is divided into three sections, covering some of the key findings from the study, which show significant trends across the different universities:

· Characteristics of large-scale teaching across universities

· Challenges of teaching large classes

· Strategies and tools to support large classes

Characteristics of Large-scale teaching across universities

Classes are classified as large depending on the level - first cycle versus second cycle, the type - lecture, tutorial or laboratory - and the main subject of study - engineering, computing, science, mathematics, business, humanities and arts, architecture. Most respondents classified a large lecture as having more than 100 students. For discussion classes, there is a wider range of responses, from 10 to 50 students per class. Large classes also include teaching methods, including face-to-face, hybrid and/or online lectures, access to video material and the use of learning platforms. As will be discussed below, assessment for large classes presents several challenges, but there are a variety of ways to address them.

Challenges of teaching large classes

Table 1: Summary of Challenges of Large-scale Teaching

Challenges	Effect on Teaching and Learning
Space and Staff	Alternative teaching methods beyond traditional lectures are hampered by outdated facilities and understaffing.
Timing	Effective teaching requires flexible scheduling, as fixed schedules may not meet the needs of large groups.
Engagement and Interaction	Limited student activity and anonymity reduce student-teacher interaction, which affects feedback and attention.
Logistics	The management of large classes requires a high level of co-ordination and teacher presence to maintain student attention.
Assessment	Efficient assessment methods are required due to the number of students, leading to challenges in providing individual feedback and assessing deeper understanding.
Personalization	Personalised teaching is hampered by large class sizes. This affects the ability to respond to individual student needs and to check competencies.
Communication	The size of the group creates communication barriers, making it difficult to initiate discussions and make meaningful connections.
Engagement Levels	Students have varying levels of engagement, making it challenging to manage diverse interests and involvement.
Learning Experience	Anonymity and limited contact can reduce the quality of the learning experience and affect student accountability and engagement.
Technology Integration	There are challenges in the effective integration of technology, such as hybrid formats, into large scale teaching environments.

Table 1 above summarises the different challenges reported by the respondents in this study. To further understand these challenges, Table 2 provides an in-depth analysis of the different challenges by examining their impact on the two main actors in the classroom (the teacher and the student). The teacher's perspective shows how the teacher's work is influenced by these and related challenges in their quest to deliver innovative and engaging lessons. Similarly, to understand the issues holistically and to develop an approach that could help to mitigate the impact of the challenges on both the teacher's work and the student's learning experience, it was also worth noting these teachers' views on how their students are affected by these challenges. This will help to understand the impact and identify what measures could be taken to promote quality teaching in large classes.

Table 2: Teacher and Student-related Challenges Perspectives

Challenges	Teacher Perspective	Student Perspective
Administrative Practices and space	Standard administrative practices may not be aligned with best teaching practices, requiring proactive efforts by teachers and students to implement effective arrangements.	Administrative decisions often favour standard practices over innovative teaching methods, which reduces the quality of learning.
Anonymity and Limited Contact	Creating a welcoming learning environment is challenging as teachers have limited opportunities to create and maintain such an environment.	Large classes can make students feel anonymous and reduce opportunities for personalised learning experiences. Anonymity and limited contact can reduce the quality of the learning experience and have a negative impact on student responsibility, accountability and engagement.
Logistical Constraints	Logistical issues such as streaming lectures online due to lack of physical space for all students pose challenges	Classes are often scheduled in traditional time slots, making it difficult for students to implement alternative/modern teaching methods that may require different scheduling.
Teaching Essence	Generating interest in topics is crucial in large groups.	It's a challenge for students or teams to get individual support, especially with limited staff.
Verification and Personalization	Difficulties in checking competences, maintaining attention and providing personalised teaching.	It's a challenge for students or teams to get individual support, especially with limited staff.
Engagement and Participation	Large groups can lead to reduced engagement, reluctance to participate and passive behaviour in discussions.	Collaborative activities such as group work are less effective in large classes. Some students may hide in the crowd, leading to a lack of participation and engagement from certain individuals.
Communication Barriers	The size of the group makes it difficult to make meaningful connections and initiate discussion.	Limited opportunities for student-to-student interaction hinder communication and support.
Diverse Engagement Levels	Teachers struggle to adapt content, keep students engaged and provide effective feedback in large classes.	Large class sizes make it difficult to actively engage students. Many students become passive listeners, which affects their learning and participation in activities.
Assessment and Feedback	Individual assessment becomes more difficult and there's a risk of unfairness in group assessments. Assessment becomes time consuming and lacks individualisation.	Getting personalised feedback and assessing students' individual understanding becomes difficult in large classes, often leading to generalised feedback and assessment.
Psychological Stress	With limited support and personal contact, teachers may experience stress.	Large classes can be stressful for students, who may feel more impersonal due to limited support.
Active Learning and Attention	It becomes difficult to actively engage students and maintain their attention.	Keeping students' attention in large classes is a significant challenge.
Classroom Management	Managing large classes requires effective strategies to maintain order, facilitate learning and encourage active participation. Teachers need to balance several factors to create a conducive learning environment.	Meeting the diverse needs of students, including those with disabilities, becomes more challenging in large classroom environments.

Table 2 shows that large class sizes create a sense of anonymity among students, limiting direct interaction with the teacher and affecting the quality of instruction. The effect of this could be seen in situations where individualised attention is compromised, making it difficult to address specific student needs and promote effective learning experiences for all students.

Despite the important role of active student participation in the teaching-learning process, a critical analysis of the findings suggests that students in large groups may be less engaged and reluctant to actively participate in discussions, which undermines our quest to achieve SDG4, which aims to 'ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’. One way in which inclusive and equitable quality education has been contextualised in many classrooms is by creating an environment that encourages discussion, active participation and engagement of all students. However, encouraging questions and discussions in large classes can be challenging as some students may prefer to remain passive.

Another major challenge is the communication barriers created by the size of the group, which makes it difficult to make meaningful connections, initiate discussions and maintain a dynamic. The impact of this on the teaching-learning process cannot be underestimated, as it affects both the teacher and the student, causing psychological and emotional stress for both. The quality of the learning experience can be improved by allowing the teacher more time to respond to individual student needs. As highlighted above, anonymity can lead to a lack of accountability, which can affect students' commitment to learning.

Assessment of student learning is an integral part of the teaching and learning process, and a variety of assessment practices were advocated, with particular emphasis on formative assessment. Analysis of the results from the respondents shows that teaching in large classes limits the range of possible assessment formats that can be reasonably implemented in terms of the amount of teacher time required for correction and feedback. It is therefore not surprising that educators tend to use assessment tools that are 'easy to grade' formats/online tools. One of the most frequently cited limitations of this type of assessment, especially when using closed formats such as MCQs, is the reduced validity of the assessment when it comes to measuring higher order skills beyond knowledge reproduction.

Although they are more objective in terms of marking, teachers point out that designing such assessment formats is time consuming and hinders any intended approach to more individualised assessment of student performance. When open-ended formats are used in written examinations, the workload of correcting examinations can be managed by some teachers with the help of teaching assistants and good rubrics.

Allocating the correction of individual examination questions to individuals can help to reduce the risk of impaired objectivity. However, the feedback given to learners will inevitably be less individualised and of lower quality than in small groups. Some teachers use assessment formats other than those already mentioned in their classes, either as stand-alone examinations or as elements of continuous assessment, such as group work, graded assignments or exercises, and combinations of written and oral examinations.

In addition to these teacher- and student-related factors, the results also identified institution-related factors. For example, an analysis of the results shows that lecture theatres were and are designed to accommodate large numbers of students attending lectures. As a result, these rooms don't allow for any other format than the lecture. This poses various challenges in terms of pedagogically appropriate course design and easy ways of facilitating student-student and student-teacher interaction and student-centered approaches. Optional courses often have high enrolment but low physical attendance, which exacerbates the problem. It would then be necessary to have smaller classrooms to meet the individual needs of the students. What's more, most courses are understaffed, which in turn means that the needs of students, especially those with disabilities and other challenges, cannot be adequately met. Staffing levels and available classroom space are subject to budgetary constraints that most universities cannot adequately address.

Similarly, administrative staff with little experience and knowledge of best practice in teaching and large-scale teaching are involved in organising lectures and setting up rooms, resulting in inadequate teaching and learning environments. Other challenges mentioned are related to tight study programmes that don't allow for the implementation of innovative approaches such as blended learning and flipped classrooms. It's also impossible to divide students into sub-groups, which takes more time than the curriculum allows. The busy university day often leaves little time for good didactic planning and teaching design. This is particularly challenging for inexperienced young lecturers.

Many then opt for the easy option of frontal teaching with little or no student interaction and activation. This is especially true when teaching large numbers of students. In a large lecture theatre with many students, it is often impossible for teachers to respond to individual student challenges and adjust pace and content as needed.

The focus is on teaching and transferring basic knowledge rather than on active learning. Large classrooms are more conducive to content delivery than student participation and individual learning. However, didactically effective teaching often requires a more complex approach that gives students time to actively interact with the course, learn, practice and test their knowledge, and receive feedback.

In conclusion, teaching in large classes creates a sense of anonymity among students, making interaction and discussion very difficult. Despite these challenges and their negative impact on teaching and learning, the different strategies used by educators to mitigate them are worth exploring.

Strategies and tools for teaching large classes

These challenges highlight the need for innovative teaching approaches, improved communication strategies and better logistical support to enhance the learning experience in large classroom settings. This section explores and discusses some of the strategies used by educators to reduce the impact of the challenges discussed on teaching and learning.

Table 3: Teaching and Learning Methods

Teaching and learning methods	Examples of Activities
Lecture-Based Teaching	· Provide information to the whole class through a structured lecture. To keep students engaged, include multimedia and interactive elements such as questions/polls.
Flipped Classroom	· Assign pre-class readings, videos or other course materials for students to review outside of class. · Use class time for active learning activities such as discussions, group work or problem-solving exercises. · This method maximises class time for engagement and interaction. · This method allows for more personalised attention during face-to-face sessions.
Advance Organiser	· Keywords, concepts and incomplete graphs/images are provided at the beginning of the lecture for students to complete. · They can also use this to determine what they might already know about the topic.
Interactive Clicker Questions	· Use audience response systems or polling tools to pose questions to the class and have students respond in real time using clickers or mobile devices. · This gives both students and teachers instant feedback and encourages active participation.
Keepers	· Include a slide in the presentation that highlights the key points of the lecture that are worth 'remembering'. · Ask students to explain why these are key points.
Group Research/Response	Halfway through the lecture, pose a higher order question and have students work in pairs or small groups to research or develop an answer.
Minute Paper	Give students 1 minute to write down all the important points they have learned so far in the lecture. Collect the papers to see if students are on the right track or if there are concepts that need to be reinforced.
Muddiest Point	· Students nominate the concept they find most confusing. · Collect the papers and respond by re-teaching or posting the answers on Canvas or your own LMS system.
Nominate a topic for further discussion	· Students name one concept that is not clear to them and the majority confirm the concepts that are most important to review.
Quiz/Share/Repeat	· Halfway through the lecture, students are given a non-graded set of quiz questions. · They answer to the questions and share their answers with a partner for confirmation or clarification. · The quiz is then repeated.
Reflection/Connection	· Students are asked to take a moment to reflect on what they have just learnt and try to see how this relates to previous learning.
Think-Pair-Share	Include short discussions in lectures by posing a question or problem and giving students a few moments to think about it individually. Encourage students to think about a question or problem individually, then pair them up with a neighbour to discuss their thoughts before sharing with the whole class.
Jigsaw Technique	If the lesson involves a multifaceted concept, assign elements/topics to specific groups of students. Divide the class into small groups and assign each group a different theme or sub-theme to research. Each group will research and discuss their singular topic at length. Then break up the original groups and place one member from each group in a newly formed group so that each member can teach the others about their topic. Pupils in the new groups present their findings to the rest of the class.
Peer Teaching	Divide students into smaller groups and assign each group a topic to research and present to the class. Assign students to teach a topic or concept to their peers, either through presentations, demonstrations, or leading group discussions. This encourages collaboration, peer learning, and active engagement and deepens their understanding.
Team-Based Learning (TBL )	· This method involves dividing students into teams that work together to solve problems or complete tasks. · This method promotes teamwork, critical thinking and peer teaching, while reducing the burden on teachers to deal with each student individually.
Problem-Based Learning (PBL)	· Present students with real problems or scenarios relevant to the course material. · Have them work in groups to solve them. · This encourages critical thinking, problem solving and application of knowledge.
Case Studies	· Present students with real-life cases or scenarios relevant to the course content. · Have them work in small groups to analyse, discuss and propose possible solutions, strategies or outcomes. · Case studies encourage decision-making skills as students work through complex, real-life problems. · This encourages critical thinking, problem solving, discussion and application of knowledge.
Role-Playing or Simulation	· Have students take on roles or simulate real-life scenarios related to the course content, · Allow them to apply knowledge, practice skills and gain a deeper understanding of concepts in a practical way.
Socratic Method	· Encourage critical thinking and class participation by asking probing questions and engaging students in dialogue. · Although challenging in large classes, this method can be facilitated by breaking the class into smaller discussion groups.
Gallery Walk	· Post materials or questions around the classroom. · Have students rotate in small groups to view and discuss each item. · This encourages movement, collaboration, and active engagement with the course material.
Group Discussions	Break the class into smaller groups to discuss a topic, question, or case study related to the course material. Groups can then share their insights, perspectives, and conclusions with the whole class afterward. Group discussions encourage collaboration, critical thinking, and peer learning.
Problem-Solving Exercises	Give students with challenging problems or tasks related to the course material. Encourage them to work individually or in groups to find solutions. Problem-solving exercises encourage analytical thinking, creativity, and the application of theoretical knowledge to practical situations.
Debates	- Divide the class into groups with opposing points of view on an issue that is controversial or debatable in relation to the course material. Each group presents arguments and evidence to support their position, followed by a structured debate where students can engage with and challenge each other's ideas. Debates develop critical thinking, research skills and the ability to articulate and defend a point of view.
Predictions	· Pupils predict and explain the next action or reaction in the text or lesson after reading or listening to material.

As discussed above, the challenges of teaching on a large scale are many and include difficulties in maintaining student engagement, fostering interaction and providing personalised attention. Teachers must balance efficiency and quality in assessment practices, often relying on standardised methods and online tools to manage the workload. To address these challenges, educators use a variety of strategies, including integrating interactive teaching methods, implementing group work, and promoting active learning techniques. Breaking up large classes into smaller groups, incorporating multimedia presentations and using online platforms are common approaches reported by respondents to increase engagement and facilitate interaction.

Active learning strategies are essential to engage students and promote deeper understanding in large classes. A common approach among respondents was to adapt teaching methods to different learning styles and student needs, while using formative feedback mechanisms and peer engagement activities. Active learning is needed to improve student performance and learning experiences. To meet the challenges of implementing effective and efficient assessment practices, educators are using various strategies, including integrating interactive teaching methods, using technology, implementing group work and promoting active learning techniques. Dividing large classes into smaller groups, incorporating multimedia presentations and using online platforms were the most common approaches reported by participants to increase engagement and facilitate interaction.

In summary, meeting these challenges requires a combination of interactive teaching methods, technology integration, individualised support and effective classroom management strategies. Balancing the needs of a large group while maintaining quality learning experiences is critical to successful teaching in large classes. The challenges of assessing large groups are recognized, and strategies involving technology, varied assessment methods and a balance between time and quality are employed. Efforts are made to meet the special needs of Generation Z students and to maintain a quality learning experience despite the size of the class. The combination of technology integration, subgroup strategies, interactive learning methods and differentiation approaches can enhance teaching in large groups.

Tools for Teaching at Large Scale

In addition to the above strategies, the participants identified several tools that could be used in large scale teaching. The table below outlines some of these basic but important tools and assessment tools that could be used in large scale teaching. These include communication, assessment and online tools for effective teaching and learning.

Table 4: Tools for Teaching at Large Scale

In addition to the teaching strategies discussed above, there are many tools that can be used to improve teaching and learning at scale. Analysis of the participants' responses suggests that communication and the provision of clear instructions are crucial when teaching at large scale. Organising large courses and communicating between teachers and students during the course can be challenging. Two Learning Management Systems (LMS), Canvas and Moodle, are helpful tools for creating a structured overview of the courses and provide a platform for presenting clear and structured information about the whole course content, such as instructions for assignments and group work. However, it is worth noting that the LMS alone will not deliver the expected results if the course homepage is not user-friendly, where students can easily navigate and find all the necessary information about the course objectives, assignments with their respective deadlines, and clear instructions and criteria for assessment.

An LMS can be used as a pedagogical tool for blended learning and/or flipped classrooms, for example, and as a space to create quizzes with automatic feedback on incorrect answers. The LMS also provides forums for questions and discussions between students and teachers. The results also suggest that peer assessment and feedback could be helpful in large-scale teaching. Peer-assessed assignments help students to learn new things from the work of their peers and to see the different perspectives that other students submit. Such an activity allows both the teacher and the individual student to see how different people evaluate the content of the unit and, indeed, the course in general.

Conclusion

Teaching in large classes has become a common phenomenon in many university classrooms. It is therefore not surprising that many universities and teachers have adopted different strategies to improve teaching and learning in large classes. This research explored the status of teaching large classes within the UNITE community, and the analysis of the results highlighted several challenges, ranging from teacher to student and institutional challenges. These multiple challenges have been discussed and the different strategies used to mitigate the effects of these challenges have been examined in this handbook.

We are grateful for the time that the members of this team (Ernest Ampadu, KTH; Charlotte Hurdelbrink, KTH; Madeleine Tucker Smith, KTH; Verena Schwägerl-Melchior, Graz University of Technology; Ruffeis Dominik, Graz University of Technology; Anna Barbara Gogolewska, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology; Anna Wozna, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology; Anna Wozna, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology; Isabel Ferreirim, University of Lisbon, and Carlota Rebelo, University of Lisbon) took on the task of writing and proofreading the different sections of the handbook, ensuring that the text made sense and provided understandable information and guidelines that could be used to improve teaching and learning. It is anticipated that a series of workshops will be organised shortly to discuss some of the findings for further collaboration and development of new networks.

Joint programmes

Collaborative Courses

Virtual exchanges