By Doug Klutz
Presence in the classroom fosters an active learning environment with your students. Presence is often associated with charisma and passion for teaching. Students are more engaged when you are charismatic in the classroom and care about their learning. Large lecture courses can be initially intimidating, but here are some strategies to mitigate potential problems:
- Make yourself available and approachable. Students are less likely to feel isolated if you actively field questions during class, after class and during office hours.
- Check in often with your students. Send weekly emails with course updates and topics to be discussed in class. Start class with a brief overview of upcoming assignments.
- Think about how your students will hear and view you in the classroom. Use proper audio equipment and actively move while you talk. Test out the classroom and its audio equipment before the start of the semester.
- Think about your visual presentation in class. Be careful concerning overly wordy PowerPoint slides and with having too many slides during a class lecture. Use visual images when possible to illustrate complex concepts.
- Care about your students and their learning. When students can see that you care, they are more likely to be engaged in the course because they know you are putting a high amount of effort into their learning objectives.