Dr. Noor, Professor of Biology at Duke, taught a large class in basic genetics and evolution (Biology 102) for the first time this spring, as part of the Biology Curriculum revision. In his personal blog, Science, Food, Etc, he enumerates what worked overall, what surprised him, and what he’s still not sure about. Some of the students in his class have added comments on their experience with this course.
Most of his “seemed to work well” list increased communication between the students and the faculty, from talking one-on-one to the students before class and during the lab, to pre-lecture quizzes, to using technology in various ways to increase communication (for example, using Poll Everywhere to engage students and poll them). Writing a blog post and inviting student comments is yet another example of how Dr. Noor invites and encourages communication with students.
Read his post for a detailed, thoughtful description and ideas you can incorporate into your own teaching and presentations.