Teaching and Learning in the Large Classroom: A Mixed-Methods Approach for Undergraduate Health Management Education

For several decades, many involved in U.S. higher education—researchers, educational psychologists, professors, students, and administrators—have highlighted the challenges the large lecture class format presents for teaching undergraduates (Hamilton, 2012). Instructors report that the large lecture, while still the most common pedagogy in high-enrollment survey courses, often results in lower student participation and lack of student accountability, which in turn can lead to less engagement. Students in large lectures report feeling disconnected from the course material, the instructor, and classmates (Cooper & Robinson, 2000). This disengagement may contribute to students' difficulty focusing in class and lack of clarity about course concepts, prompting them to lose interest in course topics, and eventually skip class and perform poorly on exams. Additionally, students often find it more challenging to learn, process, and think critically about information presented during a typical lecture (Lineman, 2018).