Large Enrollment

Teaching Large Enrollment Classes

Large enrollment courses (typically 100+ students) can be both exciting and challenging. The key is to find creative ways to foster engagement and maintain that personal touch, even in a crowded auditorium. Think about incorporating active learning techniques, leveraging technology for interaction, and developing clear communication strategies. Remember, with great numbers comes great opportunity – to inspire, to innovate, and to make a big impact!

IST Large Enrollment Faculty Guide
Gen AI Resources for Faculty Canvas Page (contact learning design at ISTLearningDesign@psu.edu if you do not yet have access)
Where are classroom technology resources?

While lecturing is the traditional method to communicate information to large amounts of students, it is not the most effective teaching and learning method. Constructivist techniques such as active learning and academic teaming/grouping are most effective at getting students to think critically and practice the skills and knowledge of your subject. They are also more fun and engaging. Here are some articles that will be useful as you seek to engage students in a large class:

Large classes can be hard to engage, but technology can make it easier to generate interaction, facilitate group work, and provide immediate feedback. When considering technology for a large class, look for features such as live polls, discussion posts, collaborative platforms, or other interactive features. Another important consideration is the tool's ability to integrate into Canvas which may allow for a more streamlined experience for you and your students. The list and links below contain some excellent examples. As always, when planning to use technology in your classes, check to see that it is approved for university use on the Courseware website.

Dynamic Courseware: TopHat
- IST Top Hat*
Live Polls:
Collaborative Workspaces:
Interactive videos: Kaltura
Peer Assessment: Kritik

Here are some additional resources for considering technology for a large class:

Generative AI offers unique opportunities to engage large classes of students. When paired with tech tools such as TopHat, lectures with GenAI activities can be active, dynamic, and more effective.

Instructors can use GenAI tools ahead of class to create materials for students to analyze, critique, or evaluate for accuracy. Gen AI is also excellent for generating case studies for students to practice application or analysis of concepts. Alternatively, you can prompt students to use GenAI during class to generate ideas, explore different perspectives, or kickstart project work. These approaches promote active learning, critical thinking, and digital literacy. You can find more information and IST’s Teaching with Generative AI page.

Below, we’ve included a list of Gen AI tools that have been used in IST classes, but please consult the AI Guidelines from Penn State’s AI Hub to know what levels of information are allowed as input for these tools.

Text Generation: Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google Gemini, Claude
Art/Video Generation Tools: DALL·E, Midjourney, ElevenLabs, Pika

Course assistants are immensely valuable for the assistance they provide in teaching a large class. To have the best experience with your course assistants, clearly communicate your expectations for the work they will provide, host frequent check-in meetings, and use Teams to communicate with them. If you have a large team of assistants, it may be beneficial to select one or two assistants to act as leaders for the teaching team. Similarly, you can assign specific assistants to act as a point person for particular tasks such as monitoring student communication (email/Canvas) and managing Canvas or other tech tools. Course assistants can lead, monitor, and participate in group discussions, host office hours, manage Canvas, send announcements, and much more. Please see IST’s Learning Assistants site for more ideas. Here are some additional resources related to course assistants:

Managing groups of students in a large class can be challenging, but a few structured strategies can make it more manageable. While forming organic groups in real time based on proximity can be valuable for occasional in-class activities (such as for low stakes activities like discussions), using the People tab > Groups in Canvas to manually or

automatically assign groups, and using those groups in and out of lecture, promotes consistency for sustained work such as group projects.

Aside from assigning groups via Canvas, collaborative tech spaces such as Teams, Google Docs, or Padlet can help groups work together, for example, by facilitating collaborative notetaking. Groups of students benefit from clear assignment guidelines such as instructions, rubrics, and examples to understand the purpose and goal of a group assignment of project.

If you have course assistants, consider assigning each one a specific group of students—either alphabetically or by physical zones in the classroom—to serve as their first point of contact. This helps streamline communication and support. You can use the Canvas Team tool to manage which Canvas groups are assigned to which course assistant. With a larger team of assistants, you might designate one or two as lead assistants to help coordinate efforts and ensure consistency across the class.

Large Enrollment

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