Designing and Facilitating Engaging Class Sessions

The students leading Harvard’s Intellectual Vitality initiative challenge us to “imagine a campus where ideas spark, conversations thrive, ideas are challenged, and everyone—students, faculty, staff—feels free to speak up, listen, and learn from one another with open minds.“ Faculty are well equipped to teach meaningful courses that provide the forum for this learning. Yet even when students are intrinsically motivated, adding external motivation can keep them engaged in the moment. 

Here are some strategies to engage students in class:

  • Frame class sessions to connect them to content and skills they want and need to learn. Make sure your students understand both the importance of the course as a whole and how the current class session fits in.
  • Ensure that in-class content depends on assignments and vice-versa
    • Connect class content to assignments and tests
    • Use pre-class work to ensure student preparedness
    • Show students how their out-of-class work contributes to the class sessions
  • Design in class activities in which students have an active role so that being present matters.
  • Eliminate distractions by limiting use of internet-enabled devices
  • Reward attendance and participation. Here are a few ways to do so: