Classes of hundreds pose special challenges for teaching and learning. Notable among these challenges is the tendency for students to feel like anonymous spectators rather than active, collaborative participants. To combat this tendency, we used the popular social networking site Facebook to cultivate a sense of community among 200-plus students…

The increasing ubiquity of PowerPoint in the university classroom raises complex questions about pedagogy and the creation of dynamic and effective learning environments. Though much of the sociological teaching literature has focused on engagement and active learning, very little of this work has addressed the presence of PowerPoint in sociology…

In this paper, the author discusses his creation of a classroom environment organized around the "book club" idea. His experiences suggest that appealing directly to students' experiences can lead to greater classroom cohesion and student investment without hindering student learning, but that the amount of traditional content that can be covered…