Have you considered that students might be overwhelmed by the university environment?

First-year students face a daunting transition to higher education, encountering larger classes and greater independence. This shift can lead to feelings of being overwhelmed, as they navigate new academic and social expectations. The anonymity of university campuses and the need for self-directed learning add to the transition challenges. Consequently, some students may struggle to engage actively in class discussions.

Establish a Welcoming Environment

Creating a supportive and inclusive classroom atmosphere will help students feel valued and comfortable. This will encourage open communication and foster a sense of community among classmates.

• Icebreaker activities are an excellent type of activities for establishing a welcoming environment. Icebreaker activities allow students to get to know each other in a relaxed setting. For example, you can divide the class into small groups and have them share fun facts about themselves or discuss their academic goals for the semester. This helps break the ice and fosters a sense of camaraderie among students. See Quick Win 1
• Facilitating a classroom norms discussion (exchange about the norms and expectations for respectful communication and behaviour in the classroom), is another way for creating a welcoming environment. You can provide students with prompt questions to brainstorm and agree upon guidelines that promote inclusivity and mutual respect, such as active listening, valuing diverse perspectives, and avoiding interrupting others. This can help empower students to take ownership of the classroom environment and ensure that everyone feels heard and respected. Once stated, include these norms in the course syllabus. See Quick Win 2
  Some examples of discussion prompts for setting classroom rules can be:
  • What does a productive learning environment look like?
  • What conditions are needed in order for students to feel safe participating in class?
  • What is considered acceptable or unacceptable classroom behavior?

Set Clear Expectations

Clearly outline course objectives, expectations, and grading criteria at the beginning of the semester. Setting clear expectations for students is crucial for their academic success and personal development. Students have strong expectations of quality teaching, including interactive and feedback-rich learning experiences (Handal, 2011). However, these expectations can sometimes be unrealistic, leading to a sense of entitlement (Buckley, 2004). Teachers’ expectations play a significant role in student outcomes, with high expectations leading to improved academic achievement. Two learning approaches emerged from the research findings: learning subject matter only to pass and learning subject matter comprehensively to form understanding. Therefore, it is important for educators to communicate clear and achievable expectations to their students, while also managing any unrealistic ones (Wild et al., 2021).

Setting clear expectations for students is crucial for their success and for maintaining a productive learning environment. Here’s how you can establish and communicate expectations effectively:

• Provide a Subject Outline: Give students a detailed subject outline at the beginning of the semester. This document should include information about subject objectives, assignments, literature, grading criteria, and any other important expectations.
• Model Expectations: Model the quality of assignments you expect from students. Show examples of excellent work and explain why they meet your expectations.
• Encourage Questions: Encourage students to ask questions if they are unsure about any expectations and need more clarification.
• Provide Rubrics: For assignments and assessments, provide rubrics that clearly outline the criteria for evaluation. This helps students understand how their work will be assessed and what they need to do to achieve specific grades.
• Offer Feedback: Provide timely and constructive feedback on assignments and assessments. This helps students understand how well they are meeting expectations and where they need to improve.

Offering Supportive Resources

Providing students resources such as office hours, tutoring services, academic workshops, for example, can help students navigate the challenges of university-level coursework. Offering regular office hours or feedback sessions where students can meet one-on-one with you to discuss questions, concerns, or ideas related to the course, could help students feel supported and valued, reducing the sense of overwhelm and increasing their confidence in participating actively in class.

Furthermore, disseminating information during class regarding the various programs, services, and initiatives offered by the institution for students (including social and health services, psychological counseling, online platforms for skill enhancement, etc.) can mitigate feelings of overwhelm and bolster their confidence to engage actively in classroom discourse.

Connect Content with Professional Applications

Relating course content to real-life situations makes it more meaningful and relevant to students. When they see how the concepts they’re learning apply to their daily experiences and profession, they’re more likely to engage with the material and understand its importance. It can also motivate students to actively participate in class, learn to question, evaluate, and apply what they’ve learned in various contexts, which enhances their ability to think critically and solve problems beyond the classroom. See Quick Win 3

Incorporate Interactive Teaching Methods

Including interactive teaching methods such as group discussions, peer teaching, and hands-on activities can not only enhance understanding of the course material but also foster participation.

• For small group discussions, you can divide the class into smaller groups and provide guiding questions or prompts related to the day’s topic and give each group time to discuss and formulate responses. This encourages active participation in a less intimidating setting, allowing students to build confidence in expressing their ideas.
• If you have a Learning Management System available (Moodle, Brightspace for example), you can create an online discussion forum where students can continue conversations outside of the classroom. Assign weekly discussion topics related to course content and require students to contribute thoughtful responses. This provides an additional avenue for participation and allows quieter students to express themselves in a more comfortable environment.
• Integrate peer review sessions into assignments or projects, where students provide feedback on each other’s work. Peer review sessions can significantly alleviate the overwhelming nature of the university context for first-year students in several ways. For instance, engaging in peer review allows students to recognise that they are not alone in grappling with course material or assignments, fostering a sense of camaraderie and shared experience. This realisation can reduce feelings of isolation and helplessness, which are common contributors to overwhelm (see Feedback detail page).

Have you considered that students might struggle to speak in public?

Public speaking anxiety, also known as communication apprehension, might prevent students’ participation in class due to personal challenges.

Create a Safe Environment

A negative learning environment can make students feel uncomfortable or undervalued. By contrast, a supportive classroom atmosphere, characterised by elements such as respectful communication, can foster student’s participation in class. For instance, talking about public speaking anxiety and the importance of practising to overcome it, can help students feel less overwhelmed. See Quick Win 1

Seek Incremental Participation

Speaking tasks or questions that require long or complex responses could prevent participation. Ideally, we should introduce simple or shorter steps, starting from the individual student thinking, then pairing up with another students to finally presenting their findings to the full group, in class. See Quick Win 2

Promote Self-Reflection

Encouraging self-reflection on the experience of participating in class can promote better engagement in public speaking. Students might use rubrics to evaluate their own performance or that or their peers. See Quick Win 3