1. Don't speak louder: drop your voice/volume. Peer pressure from the 2/3 will shush up the 1/3. Get a roving microphone and walk around the aisles, sending miscreants out of the hall.

2. Ask once for no early/late attendance, lock the doors as you start (safety precautions permitting).

3. Ask once for no whispering, then walk out at the onset of the first

whisper. Peer pressure will ensure that the next lecture goes well.

4. Call in the head of school to give the students a "grow-up" pep talk before you start.

5. Confiscate ringing cell phones, and give them to your children / favourite charity ;-)

Not strategies, but maybe technology...

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Audience_Response_Systems_ARS_for_big_classes_are_they_necessary_or_at_least_useful

Dear Professor (Dr.) Margarete Imhof, I am surprised that how can you get that much attention and concentration of students in a lecture of 800 plus students. And, then it will be but natural what all about Dr. Ian Kennedy has already spoken.

My opinion is better relay your lectures and put a mechanisms for on line attendance, quizzes, tests and exams. Good Luck Professor!

I like your suggestions and I am really curious to see how things work. I consider myself as a seasoned lecturer. I have done this large lecture class for almost 20 years, on the whole, evaluations indicate that the course is quite successful. When I started this semester, one of the students approached me after class and asked me how I could still enjoy teaching in this situation. This made me think and re-think. I value and appreciate your ideas and I will see how I can integrate them into my practice.

Dear Professor (Dr.) Margarete Imhof, I really admire of your services not the job. Teaching is a "NOBLE PROFESSION" and "GOD" likes nobleness and honesty and "HE" will give you returns of your services and NO BODY else can give that.

6. Call campus security in and get them to remove anybody who dares to whisper or be noisy! The 2/3 deserve value for their money and time.

@Ian, I'm not aware of any campus security at German universities - Margarete? They've just janitors and strict arms laws.

Just a quick note: There is no university security available locally. I mean there is certainly somebody somewhere, but not close. The janitor is also no longer available, because the class runs at 6-8 pm and janitors finish their regular days at 5pm.

I like the idea of getting and keeping them busy by making their own minds meet the material through testing.

I do this sometimes, though my classes are 120 students maximum. I label the tests as quizzes, where peers can help each other understand and produce something together. This addresses the Thai habit of learning in groups and keeps them under "controlled talking" during which they can live out their need for communication. I put this in the middle of my classes, so I usually have a rather quiet second half.

i think of all of these student. what about if you put your self in there places ?

all of them have a problem in there life think in it.

so that, try to start ( 5 minute) your lectures talking about social problem.

In order to attract attention. then start your lectures

i used a short film have a lot of pictures and epitomize the subject which i give it to them.

some doctors in my university give the students Perplexing question (does not have a definitive answer).

For example: I remember in one of the lectures lecturer asked "If you travel with someone to a desert area,On the way injured friend who travels with you from a Wild Animal, and because of that he can not complete the walk , you know that you did not have stayed with you anything from food and water. do you leave him or remain in order to help him"

This example was the difference between the teacher efficient and inefficient teacher

Why are you blaming yourself for the lack of attention?

If your students have access to clickers you can work engaging questions into your lectures, perhaps even asking them to work with those around them to answer these questions. This may keep students more engaged in the material and allow you to know where they are having difficulties.

Yes, Sherry, you're seconding my thoughts from yesterday about technology in the classroom (here with ARS).

I think Ian Kennedy has asked a very important question. Thinking about it may reshape the problem in the first place and suggest alternative routes.

I appreciate the challenge to think about why I blame myself for the lack of attention. I admit that I believe (or used to believe) that it is my responsibility to help the students develop a rationale to understand what and why they are learning and where their professional growth is headed. Maybe I should reconsider ...

It is the student's responsibility to learn how to become professionals. It is not your duty to pass them. Why blame yourself, when you have previously successfully graduated cohorts? If you have a low pass rate this year, you already have a valid reason to explain it to the university.

You may want to develop a "study guide" for each class session and post it on-line the night before the session. Write the guide so that some material would only be addressed at the beginning of the session and some only at the end .... if students arrive late or leave early, they will miss "something" important .... give them a specific reason to listen & participate.

This article made me think of your question (see link below). Has anyone brought up the importance of relevance yet? I try to connect my course content to the student's majors (I teach writing, mostly) or future careers. I don't do this systematically but use it as a tool for grabbing attention when it starts to wane...

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/teaching-unprepared-students-the-importance-of-increasing-relevance/

... And at the bottom of the facultyfocus page is a link to

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/six-tips-for-keeping-students-engaged/

good points Ian :)

thank you for the links to the literature. The ideas are worth sharing. I will prepare an experiment for next Thursday when I meet this class again (we meet once a week) and I will let you know the results.

I suggest you to raise a Group discussion about the problem and to take a decision about behaving as teenagers, arriving late, or generating noisy private conversations. If they attain a level calling for their own responsibility you will be 801 trying to solve the same problem. An assembly oriented discussion is not always useful, but the case you describe seems to be well fitted to such approach.

Speak slower with more dramatic pauses. Allow your voice to lower and lift. Use a range of volume in line with the content. If someone is speaking try to get eye contact , don't say anything, just take one very deliberate step towards them then two slow steps back. Don't let anyone in after 10 mins and use your phone to take a picture of anyone leaving early. Have engaging content. Show you are passionate about your subject. Expect the best. Be honest with yourself. Keep trying.

@Erik: Well written. You seem to write from personal experience.

@Ian: I used to be a secondary school teacher then got into teacher training, so plenty personal and professional experience (but I learned most of it the hard way).

Thank you all for your contributions. Today, I saw the lecture class again and this was what happened: I explained to them the problem and their options. I used the coincidence that the topic of today were developmental task and we talked about how the behavior of teenager in school is different from that of young adults at university. I added some more drama by using my voice more deliberately and by choosing examples which might be closer to their experience. I also sent out an on-line survey on what they think they need to know about psychology in order to be good teachers, what they think they can learn in this class and what they think they know already. I also included a questionnaire on the Need for Cognition and the Academic Self-Concept to make them think about their new role of students. Overall, I found that the class was more attentive than last time, but this may be a self-serving bias. I'll continue to observe the case.

Rome wasn't built in a day. Glad to hear you applying some strategies, Margarete. Keep trying new things and keep analyzing and reflecting upon the class and yourself. We are all aware of the frustration that comes with inattentive students, so it is great to hear that you are doing something to remedy this.

In full agreement with Erik. The educational scenario has two scenes: the main one corresponds to the teacher or lecturer point of view, the other to students'.

You seem now in the way to understand also the second scene and, finally take a true "control" of your teaching. Congratulaciones!

I am really eager to learn more about the outcomes of Prof. Imhof new teaching strategies. Please keep us posted about any progress. :) Thanks for sharing your valuable experiences with us generously.

Thank you all for your responses and your interest! I would like to follow up on the topic. I had conducted a survey on what the students expect to find out how I can tailor the lecture to their needs. First of all, I got the usual split: Some say that the lecture is well structured and that is why they come, others say the lecture lacks structure and that is why they do not come or do not pay attention when they come. So far, so good. The pieces of useful information:

(1) Students want more discussion among themselves & sharing of opinions

(2) there seems to be a group of students who do not see WHY they have to take educational psychology (they do not believe that teachers need psychology)

(3) there seem to be split opinions on whether lectures ought to present the material or whether lectures should offer opportunities to apply knowledge & competences by observing and analyzing videoclips, student artefacts, practice experience and so on.

I am not sure what I will do now to amend the situation, because it seems that a lecturer cannot cater to all interests, but I think I can increase variety to engage more students into active thinking.

BTW: some gave me this piece of advice in an open ended question: Just don't worry about students talking in class too much!

Is this sad or funny or just so very human?

its intersting issue and we all face the same problems, could pleae give us the length of your lectuer, but any way I will use inter ctive tecahing method where I involve students in my discussion. it also worht it to discuss the issue regarding that they are not convence to attend this lectuer, good luck

You have got very useful, illuminating remarks.

Let me translate them.

(1) Students seem to ask for enlarged participation.

(2) Students seem to need feeling / being better oriented

(3) Students seem to prefer a well traced path concerning what you do together in the classroom. This path never will satisfy all of them.

(1) Participation has been studied by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, among other researchers. You not need to agree with them to take benefit from their ideas.

(3) This raises the dilemma first presented (to my knowledge) by Donald Schön. What a reflective practitioner does? He gives an answer to this question and reflects about the educational implications.

Concerning your post-data, there are 2 different talks. (a) Students talk about any personal subjetc; (b) they talk about the teacher's questions. (a) is noise, but (b) is like good music.

J. Lave and E. Wenger, 1993. Situated Learning. Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

D.A. Schön, 1983. The reflective Practitioner. New York: Basic Books.