Considerations for Courses with a Large Number of Students

Asynchronous Activities for Larger Classes

Large classes can also benefit and use asynchronous activities within the course. The activities are very similar to smaller class sizes but may require grouping students. 

 

Creating Groups

In courses with a large number of students, you can use many of the activities outlined in this module. To make them manageable for students, you may need to break the students into smaller groups. In Canvas, you can easily create groups and make discussions limited to the groups Links to an external site. the students are in. You can do this automatically Links to an external site. or manually Links to an external site.. For example, you may want to split them up based on their tutorial groups. 

 

Individual Asynchronous Activities 

Skill Building

There are many asynchronous activities that can be designed around helping students individually, in pairs, or in a group work through activities to help them develop specific skills. This may be an activity where you get them to work through a series of library search skills in preparation for a research project, or develop their critical thinking through annotating an article and comparing their work with others. The Collaborative Learning Annotation System (CLAS) at UBC can be a great tool for annotating images, media, and videos. 

 

Knowledge Testing

You can also create activities such as practice quizzes which allow students to test their own knowledge. If you plan in advance, tools such as Canvas quizzes and H5P can be used to create interactive activities. Many of these allow students to check their own knowledge as they work through the activities. 

Here is an example to help students test their understanding of thesis statements.

Individual Reflection

Another way that asynchronous activities can be used is for reflective practice. This requires students to reflect on their own learning and achievements throughout the course to better develop their thinking about what they have learned and where they can develop their skills and understanding further.