Engaging Students in a Large Classroom and Distance Environment

Abstract

The economic climate is pushing educational institutions toward larger class sizes and distance education. As both physical and virtual class sizes increase, the use of active learning becomes a challenge. The authors report a decade-long experience converting students from passive to active learners in a large classroom with an asynchronous distance component. As class size increases and a distance pathway is added, the foundational pedagogy, technology, active learning strategies, the integration of distance and campus pathways, and the teaching of intangibles are recounted. This chapter describes a model that achieves a reasonable, efficient, learner-centered, delivery of an educational experience.