Large Class Assessments and Activities 

Large classes require different ways of thinking about assessment and activities. The larger the class you are facilitating, the more opportunities there are for individual touch points with learners and the teaching team. The following resource will provide considerations and prompts to think about when designing assessments and activities for larger classes. It is important to note that discipline context is important, and what is considered a large class in one discipline may not be considered a large class in another.  

Assessment Design 

In designing assessments for larger class sizes one of the important things to consider is how may assessments are needed to cover the learning outcomes of the course. In some instances you may need 4 assignments in others you may need 5 or more depending on the length of the course. Ultimately essential learning outcomes should be the guiding principle behind each assessment design and decision and how that will impact the learning for the students and also the support required by the teaching team.  

Assessment Possibilities for Larger Classes 

There are some assessment types that may work better in your large course than others depending on the discipline. Here are some considerations and possibilities: 

  • Have students respond to each other’s writing. Rather than collect low-stakes writing assignments, have students form small groups and read one another’s work. Through this activity, students gain immediate feedback about their writing, new ideas for future writing, confidence about the ideas they have introduced, and experience in assessing writing. This method is also effective for responding to drafts of high stakes writing. In this situation, be sure to give students clear guidelines for commenting on the papers. 
  • Have students create portfolios. Rather than collecting students’ work each week, have them keep their weekly writing in a personal folder or portfolio. You can then choose from at least three options. First, have the students submit this portfolio once or twice over the term. You can then compare the writing within each portfolio and write only one set of comments for each person. Or, two, have students submit their two or three best pieces at the end of term, which you will then read and respond to. A third option is to have students write a reflective essay or letter in which they reflect on the quality and direction of their writing throughout the term.  

Scaffolding Opportunities

Scaffolding Opportunities 

Scaffolding assessments or assignment sequencing allows for a step-by-step development of students’ skills (i.e., movement from preliminary to higher level critical thinking or disciplinary skills) through a progression of assignments that fit together to produce a larger artifact or product.  

An assessment course design that scaffolds allows instructors to highlight various key components and incorporating modules, concepts, and elements from the course.  In a larger course this sequencing can support peer activities and just-in time supports required from the teaching team as the term progresses.  Scaffolded assessments can include the following elements were appropriate: 

  • Outlines or Proposal or Plan: 
  • An outline is a structured and organized plan that lays out the main points and structure of a written work, such as an essay, research paper, or presentation. It provides a roadmap for the writer, ensuring logical flow and coherence in the final piece. 
  • Drafts (which involve responding to feedback) 
  • Annotated bibliographies or reference curation: 
  • Annotated bibliography is a list of citations or references to sources such as books, articles, websites, etc., along with brief descriptions or annotations that summarize, evaluate, and explain the content, relevance, and quality of each source. These annotations provide readers with insights into the source’s content and its potential usefulness for research or reference. 
  • Group work elements that then support a final individual project or artifact 

Activity Design

Just because you are teaching a large class doesn’t mean you cannot have formative or summative activities as part of the class. Here are some activities that could be well suited to larger classes. We provide some suggestions below along with how many students could be part of each activity so that you can organize the design based on your class size.  

  • Background Knowledge Check: (individual work) 
  • Background knowledge polls can be done at the beginning of a lesson or module or during the unit to see if the learners are needing support on particular concepts. The teaching team can then use that information to support learning needs.  These can be done through Microsoft Forms 
  • Muddiest Point or AHA Moments: (individual work) 
  • Students reflect to answer questions like “What was the most important thing you learned today?” or “What was the most confusing topic today that you would like more information about?” 
  • Start-Stop-Continue: (individual work) 
  • This activity can serve as a good way to support additions or design choices in your course design. Ask students to respond to three questions: List one or two things that the students wished would STOP happening in class. List one or two things that would be beneficial for the course to START doing. List one or two things that are currently happening in class that should CONTINUE 
  • Think Pair Share: (pairs for first 2 phases, then whole class) 
  • Think phase: students work independently to reflect and note their thoughts about a concept 
  • Pair phase: students discuss their response with a partner and listen to their partner’s response 
  • Share phase: students then share with the rest of the class to engage in a wider discussion 
  • Case Studies (Groups of 3 to 5 for first phases, then sharing with whole class) 
  • Students review a case study together and reflect on aspects or prompts provided by the instructor or teaching assistant. 
  • Someone of the group is elected to be the speaker for the group 
  • Each group then shares their perspectives to the rest of the class 
  • Role Play (Groups of 2 to 4) 
  • Instructor or teaching assistant provides roles on particular topics to members of a group to act out and facilitate within their group. 
  • Students act out the parts and can switch up roles where necessary.  
  • The teaching team can end the role play with a larger conversation. 

Test or Exam Design

If your course learning outcomes requires a testing or exam assessment here are some types of questions that may work better for larger course. Keep in mind that Brightspace can help support the time and equity of grading these kinds of test or exam questions. CPI is here to help with both the technological and pedagogical aspects of writing these questions. 

  • Multiple-Choice Questions: These questions present a statement or question with several possible answer options, of which one or more may be correct. Test-takers must select the most appropriate choice(s).  
  • True or False Questions: These questions require test-takers to determine whether a given statement is true or false based on their knowledge of the subject. 
  • Short-Answer Questions: Test-takers are asked to provide brief written responses to questions or prompts. These responses are usually a few sentences or a paragraph in length. 
  • Fill-in-the-Blank Questions: Test-takers must complete sentences or passages by filling in the missing words or phrases. This type of question tests recall and understanding of specific information. 

Time

  • Prepare an answer key or set of detailed marking criteria or rubric before you start grading. This will also help with consistency in grading from the teaching team. 
  • Annotate your grading criteria as you progress through the marking. This will help you become more efficient as you encounter the same mistakes repeatedly; you have a record of how you handled the same error previously and this can help with the course design for next term. 
  • With problem-solution questions, work through the problem yourself just before starting to grade it, even if you’ve done it several times before. This helps you easily remember the details.  
  • Grade only one question or topic at a time so you can stay focused. And finish grading all responses to one question at one sitting if possible so you don’t have to worry about reformulating or remembering the subtleties of your marking scheme. But know your own limits since fatigue may keep you from grading reliably throughout. Part of your planning at the beginning of the term should include planning time in your schedule for grading and feedback.   
  • Avoid over-marking. Write brief comments on students’ work. Do not feel that you must correct every grammatical or mathematical error, respond to every idea, or propose alternatives for each section, as if you have many students this may take a long time. It is best to focus on only one or two major problems and look for patterns of errors rather than note every flaw. This will allow the learners to see things that they need to work on contextually (phrasing, organization, citation practices)   
  • Set limits on how long you will spend on each question, essay, or assignment. This is particularly important for larger classes so that you are reasonable with your time and your teaching team’s time and workload.  

Equity

  • Find excellent, good, adequate, and poor examples to serve as anchors or standards. You can share these with your teaching team to help support equitable grading practices. 
  • Respond to students’ work as an interested reader or reviewer would. Set yourself three goals: highlighting what was done well (to build confidence), pointing out key errors and weaknesses that need correction, and providing ways to improve. These three areas will work well regardless of discipline and regardless of how large your class is. Even multiple choice or fill in the blank type questions can benefit from feedback at the end of the assessment to guide the students and their learning.  
  • When there’s more than one marker for a course, have a group marking session where possible, where everyone grades a few papers or exams and compares them. You can split up the marking task so that each marker grades the same questions or set of questions. This will allow for equity and consistency.  

Grading and Feedback

Grading support through the teaching team may be one of the elements that requires the most reflection in your assessment and activity design. Time and resource constraints and the ways that the learning management system (Brightspace) can support the teaching team with grading can be something to keep in mind at the beginning of the semester and in your assignment design. You need to be aware of time and equity in supporting grading for larger courses.  Here are some considerations to keep in mind for both.