Teaching in a Large Lecture Classroom
Good instructors seek to provide high quality educational experiences to students, regardless of the teaching venue. Whether teaching a small graduate seminar or 250 first-year students, dedicated teachers engage, inform, and inspire.
Even the most dedicated instructor, however, can be challenged when teaching a large lecture class. ITS-Instructional Services and the Center for Teaching have designed this guide to help instructors tackle that challenge and thereby enhance both their students’ learning and their own professional lives . We hope it provides, practical, adaptable, effective information and ideas.
The suggestions presented here are neither prescriptive nor exhaustive, but designed as a smorgasbord from which you might select according to your disciplinary, course, and curricular needs and the learning needs of your students.
| How many students constitute a large lecture class? | |
| The answer to this question depends on the discipline, the course, the teaching context, and the nature of the classroom experience. At Iowa, a large lecture could include anywhere from 50-450 students. |
 |
Engaging students in a large lecture hall can be daunting even for the most seasoned faculty member. Attendance, cheating and assessing student knowledge retention are just a few of the challenges instructors face.
This website is designed to give instructors tools and strategies to help make the most of the large lecture environment; to help make it a place of learning and growth rather than frustration and anxiety.