The Large Class Teaching Guidelines

The guidelines for teaching with large classes are divided into four areas

Download PDF document of ENTIRE GUIDELINES SECTION. Size: 116k

They were developed by a working party derived from the Teaching Large Classes project team.

In developing the guidelines, the working party relied on a variety of sources for information.

• A vast range of related research and education literature.
• Information from responses to a survey of over 40 lecturers of large classes around Australia conducted as part of this project.
• Summaries of discussions that occurred at the 1st National Workshop in July 2001 for large class teachers participating in the project.

The guidelines serve to distil all of this information in a way that makes it more accessible and useful to the practitioner and/or large course administrator. Each set of guidelines is underpinned by educational theory and principles.

Planning and Teaching

  1. Provide optimal course information and meaningful expectations for students
  2. Create a welcoming and engaging environment
  3. Employ a range of learning resources
  4. Vary learning experiences
  5. Encourage active note-taking
  6. Clarify learning goals for each session
  7. Incorporate content AND learning processes
  8. Regularly monitor students' learning
  9. Plan and prepare for group work
10. Use technology to support learning

Planning and Conducting Assessment

  1. Align assessment tasks with course objectives
  2. Make the assessment valid and reliable
  3. Make assessment criteria and standards explicit to students
  4. Make assessment criteria and standards explicit to markers
  5. Encourage higher level thinking
  6. Make assessment part of the learning process
  7. Provide feedback to students on their performance
  8. Get students to conduct some of their own and others' assessment
  9. Be strategic in your choice of assessment modes
10. Set up a system to control for quality

Administration and Management

1. Configuration of classes
2. Organising assessment and feedback procedures
3. Staff development and coordination issues
4. Using online support
5. Coordinating and managing labs and pracs
6. Approaching senior administration to elicit support for large-class teachers

Tutoring and Demonstrating Guidelines

1. Preparing tutors
2. Leading tutorial sessions and supporting tutors during semester
3. Assessment
4. Evaluating performance
5. As a member or manager of a teaching team