Active Learning in a Large History Lecture Course

Two of the biggest barriers to success that our students bring to the classroom are a lack of creative critical thinking skills and poor writing habits. By adopting Proven Course Redesign strategies in the large lecture class we can better address these two critical deficiencies by employing in-class projects (facilitated by the professor and peer mentors) that integrate content learned at home into a variety of exercises that promote critical thinking and writing. Rather than spending an hour and fifteen minutes delivering content and hoping the students can put it to some use, we can instead work closely with our students, fostering a sense of community and engagement, honing their ability to write about and analyze the content they have already consumed, and making them much better thinkers and writers. They will also benefit from the experience of working with peers to solve problems. These are all real-world skills that will benefit them in whatever career or academic path they choose.