College professors, come in!

[stackingtens]

I teach as an adjunct alongside my day job.  I have taught three different courses in the past, but not for a few years.  I have been invited back to teach again this fall, but it will be a new course, and it will be a large lecture.  My previous experiences are all studio-based (I'm a residential designer and taught things like drafting, house planning, etc).   I've never had a class larger than 20 and certainly never had to design a course that is primarily lecture-based.  I also feel a little out of practice since I haven't taught in 3 years or so...

I don't even know what I'm looking for yet, but wanted to get a dialogue started!  I'm meeting with the department head later this week to learn more about the course in particular.    My biggest concerns from a teaching standpoint is presenting a boring lecture twice a week, with boring tests, etc.  Granted, the subject isn't "boring" per say... but everything else I've done has been hands on drafting and design work.  Lots of collaboration, etc.  Suggestions for creating a culture in a large lecture that is still engaging and fun?

I'm certain that I will need more advice too, regarding testing styles, etc. but that feels a way out still.  The university did move to a new course management program since I left as well, so I will need to learn how to use it...  ooof!!

[PandaPear]

How big is the class, what subject/level, and what is the time for each session? That might influence some of my ideas.

Here's some things that I do:
-Require students to submit a response to the readings prior to class (reflection, questions etc.) then use lecture to cover these highlights only, leaving time for the hands-collaboration strategies that you prefer.
-Focus on applying the material from reading during lecture. I use case studies a lot for this.
-Have some form of discussion (small group, pair & share, etc.) in class even if it is only 10 minutes
-Assign students (individually or in groups) to "teach the class" and do some of the "lecture."
-Consider a "flipped class" (this is too difficult for me TBH)
-Ask individual students to participate in discussions; have no hesitation to call on them individually
-Incorporate guest speakers/videos/etc. to lend a different voice to the material

Hope that helps! Good luck!

[stackingtens]

Jun 27, 2017 21:44:03 GMT -5 PandaPear said:

How big is the class, what subject/level, and what is the time for each session? That might influence some of my ideas.

Here's some things that I do:
-Require students to submit a response to the readings prior to class (reflection, questions etc.) then use lecture to cover these highlights only, leaving time for the hands-collaboration strategies that you prefer.
-Focus on applying the material from reading during lecture. I use case studies a lot for this.
-Have some form of discussion (small group, pair & share, etc.) in class even if it is only 10 minutes
-Assign students (individually or in groups) to "teach the class" and do some of the "lecture."
-Consider a "flipped class" (this is too difficult for me TBH)
-Ask individual students to participate in discussions; have no hesitation to call on them individually
-Incorporate guest speakers/videos/etc. to lend a different voice to the material

Hope that helps! Good luck!

I'll know a lot more tomorrow, but the class is Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30-10:45 or something like that.  I'm guessing that this semester will be smaller than future since it is a new course and wasn't available for registration in the spring... but the room capacity says 120.    The class would satisfy a general ed requirement for all undergrads (versus being a majors course, like I've done in the past).  The brief summary the dept head gave me via email was it would be called Design for Consumers and would be a general survey of design principles.
Your ideas are great... already thinking of some guest speakers I know from the local industry who might be valuable.   And since it is, I'm assuming, learning design principles and applying them, case studies might be really beneficial too.  Thank you!