Category: Faculty Development

How can you make the best use of 3.5 hour long classes?

There are a lot of strategies that will help you successfully pull off a long class. In my opinion, the best way to avoid the doldrums is a solid syllabus with clear goals and learning objectives. In addition, these are some useful strategies when looking at a particular lesson plan:

• Vary your pace
• Rely on a well-thought out structure
• Vary activities based on learning styles
• Use interactive activities balanced with lectures
• Vary types of interaction: Teacher-Student, S-S
• Use activities that benefit from longer intervals
• Thoughtfully incorporate online and face-to-face content transitions
• Make it meaningful, related to learning objectives
• Have fun

Other useful advice from other instructors:

• adjustments in policy for that class (food, drink, etc)–many, possibly most, students will have been in class back to back as well
• It’s always hard, because you’re tired, they’re tired. And they’d rather be watching <insert popular tv program here>.
• ask them what they want: a 20-minute break around 8 pm or a short break at, say, both 8 and 9, or to start class 10 minutes late and have a short break later on, etc. Then at least they have a say in what works for them.
• Definitely keep the lecture to the first half of your class, and leave the second half for other activities…. don’t try to lecture for 3 hours. I shook even the lecture up a bit, talking for 15 minutes or so, then playing a short (5-10 minute) video clip, then going back to talking, etc. to keep things changing so they (and myself) don’t fall asleep.
• Try to do the most difficult task first when they’re fresh.  Break lessons into approximately 30 minutes chunks.  It’s a once-a-week class, but treat it like a twice-a-week class: do whatever you would do for the first day of the week in the first hour-and-a-half and whatever you would do for the second day in the second hour+.
• And the best thing for these classes, put what needs to be accomplished on the board before starting.  Then the students know what they need to get through before they’re getting out of there….not that that tends to be a problem with older students, but that is one of the things students have said they’ve liked: knowing exactly what needs to be done in the period.
• My experience was that even though almost all of us had had a full workday in our bones, we were not about to fall asleep–this was doctoral coursework, and we wanted to be there. Discussions were always very lively. However, here are some things that helped:
  1. Ease people into the class. Don’t walk in, say “Good evening,” and start lecturing. Give class members a few minutes to visit.
  2. Keep the room cool but not cold. Warm classrooms made many of us uncomfortable.
  3. Allow drinks.
  4. Allow people to leave the room for bathroom breaks or just to stretch. A lot of classroom chairs are horribly uncomfortable.
  5. Have at least one longer break so that people can get something to eat if the opportunity is available nearby. Otherwise, allow them to bring food.
  6. Be enthusiastic about what you teach. It’ll help keep people going.
  7. Make sure that whatever you have to say is well organized and useful. Confused fumbling, belaboring the same point over and over, and assigning busy work just to keep students for three hours feel like a waste of time. When you’re done, even if it’s 30 minutes early, let people go home.
  8. Be sure to address the readings in class. It is extremely aggravating to slug through 250 pages of text each week and then never discuss any of it in class or use it for assignments.
  9. Keep videos to a minimum. Yes, that’s right. The last thing I want to do after a hard day’s work is drive 90 minutes to class just to watch a movie for two hours that you then spent five minutes discussing (if that). If you use videos, choose clips carefully. For longer programs, consider making them available on Blackboard so that I can watch at my convenience. Otherwise, let me know well ahead of time so that I may rent.
  10. Make your PPT slides available on Blackboard.
  11. Do not get pulled in by irrelevant or inane questions from those students who need lots of attention. Cut off anyone who rambles off topic. Don’t be shy about it. It’ll raise my evaluation of you.
  12. Minimize group work. At the end of the day, many people are tired or irritable, and too much group work easily disintegrates into a gabfest or an argument. Make sure group work has clear objectives and is connected to the competencies for that evening. Set up the groups so that people may be active or quiet based on their level of fatigue without a grade penalty.
• Give them a break halfway through, and take attendance after the break, even if you wouldn’t normally take attendance. Do not send them home early even once for the first 8 weeks. Allow them to bring coffee or whatever to class. If you show a film or anything, watch for sleepers.
• I second the idea of chunking. Keep mixing it up so they won’t get bored and can interact with others.
• Please let them move around a bit. My 3-hour session graduate courses were agony due to my chronic pain issues, and that’s why I refuse to teach them now.
• I also used to do something “hopping” after the break. An impromptu speech and debate team, a panel of student “experts” answering questions, a “vote with your feet” discussion and so on. Do what you need to do to keep them awake! It’s a challenge. Also, I find that night classes (once a week anyway) are the most difficult in getting students to actually retain information. I ended up doing constant reviews just so they’d stay on course!
• I don’t take attendance, but I do give quizzes every class.  I’ve been thinking of moving them to after the break in both classes (very tired of the, gee, there’s fewer people here than before the quiz).

  Now I just need to get more creative on the physical activity front.  I agree completely with its importance, just struggle with making it work in this class.

• I third the part about not letting them go home early at least for the first 1/2 of the term if you can avoid it.

  I had some severe pacing issues the first time I taught a night class and I made the mistake of letting then go early a couple of times.

  BIG MISTAKE. They started requesting it every time until I finally told them to stop it or they would never go home early for the rest of the term.

• You do have to re-structure what you’re used to doing, but you can actually be much more productive.

  Move into more of a social-cognitive or constructivist approach to your teaching and use in class time for group/team exercises.

  Cut down on your assignments and only have a midterm and a final assignment. Make both of them more in depth. Also have team projects and in class presentation with a significant component of the assessment be peer review.

  As long as the class is an active class the students won’t get bored.