By Emily Cook, EDC staff writer
For professors teaching large classes, it can be intimidating to even think about group presentations; but if it’s done right, it doesn’t have to be, according to professor Melanie Coughlin.
Professor Melanie Coughlin uses group presentations to engage students in large classes.
Coughlin has been teaching East Asian Religion at Carleton University for the last two fall semesters, and in both years, her teaching has included group presentations, despite having classes of 70 students or more.
“I see the course as not just delivering context, but delivering skills,” she says. “If they don’t actually get trained in the skills they need to put together a presentation, they’re never going to learn by sitting and watching me do it.”
Coughlin says this is why it’s important to break up lectures with presentations.
“It’s not just a favour to them, it’s also a favour to me,” she says. “It gives me feedback on where the students are, what they’re understanding, or not understanding.”
She outlines five challenges professors face in coordinating presentations in a large class. The first is it cuts into time for teaching the syllabus. Coughlin says this isn’t a problem when students present information relevant to that week’s readings.
“I find it makes such a difference for being able to enliven the material, make it fresh, and make it for the students you’re teaching,” she says.
Other difficulties Coughlin highlights include a loss of time liaising between students, failing to assign students to groups if they aren’t present at a lecture, and groups getting stuck with a heavier course load when members drop the course.
Coughlin’s method to avoid these difficulties is to create different student roles, including one coordinator, two to five writers, and one or two presenters. This way, only the coordinator communicates with the professor and the semi-autonomous roles mean the group won’t be faulted if a student fails to show up or do the work.
The final difficulty that Coughlin says instructors can face is a lack of unity in the groups due to irregular class attendance. To combat this, Coughlin has integrated group activities into lectures to encourage more students to come to class. She says she noticed an increased attendance this year, which might be a result of the more interactive lectures.
Along with the benefits to student learning, Coughlin says group presentations help her get to know students on a personal level, which makes any extra work worth it because in the end it’s “a more meaningful experience as a teacher.”
For more tips on getting the most out of group work, check out the teaching tip on our resources page.