Building meaningful connections with large online classes

As we adapt to the sudden shift to online teaching caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and discover new pedagogical possibilities in this medium, building meaningful connections in large online classes in order to foster effective learning continues to present its challenges. The objective of this paper is to reflect some key lessons learned from teaching large classes online. Four perspectives are presented: upskilling through professional development, creating meaningful learning experiences by embedding citizen scholars through curriculum and assessment design, balancing online pedagogical care and self-care, and promoting a learning community among studentseng