Teaching advice - 2 students

[purplepandas]

Hi,

I have a final year UG unit to deliver for a total of two students. I already have the material so am not keen to spend a lot of time developing materials in a different format. The stand up lecture situation is going to be weird so I am wondeirng how others might approach this. I could do a tutorial type session but think they might miss out on some of the more formal learning I I did this solely.

Thanks for any wise words.

[Deianira]

I have done a course for a group of 4, so similarly small - there were some lectures which needed to be lectures, but to compensate for the oddity I ended up breaking them up - so I would lecture for e.g. 20 mins, then we'd have a 10-15 minute discussion about what was covered so far (or do exercises if relevant) before having another mini lecture bit. That way it helped it feel a bit less weird - and it was a small enough group that it kept them really responsive to what you were saying as they knew they'd all have to discuss it shortly! I also mixed in more student presentation of e.g. introductions before I took over some of the harder bits, as another way of keeping them involved. They were MA students, however, so possibly more willing in some ways to get stuck in on presenting material - however, I think if you discussed it with UGs in advance and planned it with them rather than just forcing them into it, they'd also be able to do some of this.

[purplepandas]

Thanks Deianira, that;s super helpful. I do like to mix the lecturing and activities even in big classes but I think you are right about doing this even more for the tiny classes. Much appreciated.