Teaching the Large College Class: A Guidebook for Instructors with Multitudes - Softcover

Heppner, Frank

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0470180846 ISBN 13: 9780470180846

Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 2007

Synopsis

Teaching large classes is a fact of life for professors at many institutions. In addition to pedagogy, instructors of these courses must also be concerned with legal, ethical, financial, technological, personnel, and management issues. Virtually all introductory courses are large ones, as are the popular intermediate courses at large institutions. Typically, little or no training or instruction is provided to new professors about how to manage large classes successfully. This book is a valuable resource for any college teacher, adjunct or full-time, facing a large class. It will also be useful for college administrators who might want to issue it to teachers, especially adjuncts, assigned to large classes for the first time. A distillation of years of experience by the author?who started his college teaching career in 1969?in teaching large classes and in coaching other professors to do the same, this guide is concise and user-friendly. It employs teaching-as-acting as a common theme, with many practical examples covering all of the major aspects of organizing, managing, and teaching a large lecture course in any field.

For more information and excerpts, visit www.largelecture.com

About this title

About the Author

Frank Heppner is a retired professor of biological sciences at the University of Rhode Island, Kingston. During his career from 1969-2010, he had more that 25,000 students in 15 different classes. His largest class was 900 students.

Although digital devices have revolutionized college teaching, many of the changes have not produced better teaching or learning. Devices can't inspire students like a good live lecturer can, and unless the large-class lecturer can capture students' attention, he/she might as well surrender to the device. Early on, Heppner discovered that a large class lecturer has much in common with an actor in a theater, and acting techniques can be as important, or more so, as knowledge of the subject matter. During his career, Heppner received wide recognition from his colleagues for pioneering theatrical techniques in big classes

From the Back Cover

Teaching the Large College Class

Teaching large classes is a fact of life for professors at many institutions. In addition to pedagogy, instructors of these courses must also be concerned with legal, ethical, financial, technological, personnel, and management issues. Virtually all introductory courses are large ones, as are the popular intermediate courses at large institutions. Typically, little or no training or instruction is provided to new professors about how to manage large classes successfully. This book is a valuable resource for any college teacher, adjunct or full-time, facing a large class. It will also be useful for college administrators who might want to issue it to teachers, especially adjuncts, assigned to large classes for the first time. A distillation of years of experience by the author―who started his college teaching career in 1969―in teaching large classes and in coaching other professors to do the same, this guide is concise and user-friendly. It employs teaching-as-acting as a common theme, with many practical examples covering all of the major aspects of organizing, managing, and teaching a large lecture course in any field.

Along with four appendixes featuring a first-day checklist and samples of a course outline, syllabus, and first-day lecture, this book includes information on:

• Thinking ahead

• Getting ready for the first day

• The teacher as actor

• Managing assistants and graders

• Using media effectively

• Auditorium classroom activities

• Assessment and testing

• Grading

• The seasons of a class

Teaching large classes is a fact of life for professors at many institutions. In addition to pedagogy, instructors of these courses must also be concerned with legal, ethical, financial, technological, personnel, and management issues. Virtually all introductory courses are large ones, as are the popular intermediate courses at large institutions. Typically, little or no training or instruction is provided to new professors about how to manage large classes successfully. This book is a valuable resource for any college teacher, adjunct or full-time, facing a large class. It will also be useful for college administrators who might want to issue it to teachers, especially adjuncts, assigned to large classes for the first time. A distillation of years of experience by the author—who started his college teaching career in 1969—in teaching large classes and in coaching other professors to do the same, this guide is concise and user-friendly. It employs teaching-as-acting as a common theme, with many practical examples covering all of the major aspects of organizing, managing, and teaching a large lecture course in any field.

Along with four appendixes featuring a first-day checklist and samples of a course outline, syllabus, and first-day lecture, this book includes information on:

• Thinking ahead

• Getting ready for the first day

• The teacher as actor

• Managing assistants and graders

• Using media effectively

• Auditorium classroom activities

• Assessment and testing

• Grading

• The seasons of a class

Edition details

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0470180846
• ISBN 13: 9780470180846
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208