Promoting student engagement with a large class (400+): Implications for large sized lectures, small group workshops and online teaching and learning

Peer-reviewed paper presented at the Pedagogy for Higher Education Large Classes (PHELC) workshop, co-located with the Higher Education Advances (HEAd19) Conference at Universitat Politecnica de Valencia. Student engagement is widely accepted as a contributing factor on learning and success in higher education (Kahu, 2013).  While a range of structural, psychosocial and psychological variables reportedly impact on student engagement, the effects of class size and particularly large classes is frequently cited as a determining influence (Mulryan-Kyne, 2010; Cuseo, 2007). This paper will present a discussion on various practices as a means of promoting student engagement with 400+ student teachers in a variety of teaching and learning environments such as small group workshops, large sized lectures and online sessions, while simultaneously highlighting that the pedagogy of the faculty is most influential and innovative course design is required to promote student engagement in large classes.