Networked Teaching: Overcoming the Barriers to Teaching Experiential Learning in Large Classes

Abstract

As student enrolments grow and student diversity increases in many areas of higher education, faculty face challenges to support and ensure individual student learning and development. At the same time, active and experiential approaches to learning are recognized for their potential to develop autonomy and critical thinking, among other valuable skills. However, such approaches are challenging to implement at scale and alter the educator’s role from a directive one to a more facilitating role. This article reports on a questionnaire with 66 business academics at a large Australian metropolitan university that examined teaching experiences at scale and identified perceived barriers and enablers of experiential learning in large classes. Academics reported their lived experiences of teaching at scale and revealed the need to recognize teaching practice as a highly networked and distributed activity. In experiential learning, and particularly in large classes, the locus of control for learning shifts to the student, leading to feelings of disorientation and disempowerment. We make several recommendations for teaching development, faculty, and future research.