Creating Belonging and Community in Large Classes  

Teaching large-enrollment classes comes with many benefits and also poses particular challenges: managing attendance and engagement, scaffolding to meet a variety of needs, and curating a sense of belonging that promotes support, trust, and persistence. With more students comes more responsibility, as well as more opportunity to shape student success.   

The Center for Faculty Excellence is excited to offer a Summer Institute designed for instructors teaching large-enrollment courses (50+ students), with a particular focus on supporting both non-tenure track and tenure-track faculty.  

In this three-part workshop series, 15 selected faculty members will refine practical strategies to improve student engagement, support learning across varied levels of preparation, and make your classroom a place where students feel they belong. Participants will leave with concrete active learning and metacognition strategies that they can implement in the fall semester, knowledge of campus resources to maintain student persistence, and a community of fellow large-enrollment instructors to connect with moving forward. This institute is ideal for instructors teaching large lecture or high-enrollment courses who want to improve student engagement, belonging and success; we highly encourage NTT faculty to apply and participate. 

teaching large classes

What you’ll gain by participating:

  • Learn and apply strategies that support student metacognition in Fall 2026 
  • Develop ways to foster andcommunicate belonging to your students 
  • Implement active learning strategies in your courses 
  • Refine or add student engagement strategies—and clearly communicate these to your students 
  • Revise assignments to better scaffold for students with different levels of preparation 
  • Build a supportive community with colleagues who understand the realities of teaching large classes 

This is a working institute through which you’ll develop concrete changes to implement in your Fall 2026 courses. Whether you're looking to improve student engagement and participation, address concerns about persistence, or bring belonging back to the large-enrollment classroom, this institute will provide practical tools to rethink your teaching.   

Requirements:

Who should apply: Instructors (NTT and TT) teaching courses with 50+ students 

Time Commitment: 3 weekly workshops, ~3 hours each. Outside of workshop time, expect to spend about 2-3 hours each week on outside readings and applying what you learned to a plan to implement. Faculty will enhance their teaching practice and student success by fostering a peer community of support, implementing active learning and metacognitive strategies, promoting student belonging, and refining course engagement and assignment scaffolding. 

Dates: In-person Tuesdays, June 2nd, 9th, 16th (9:00 – 1:00 pm with lunch) and two midsemester lunches (fall 2026 & spring 2027) to check in and share progress. 

Compensation: $1,500 participant stipend, paid in two installments – one over the summer and one at the end of the fall semester. Participation in all face-to-face meetings is required for full compensation. Each individual stipend will be paid in compliance with MSU’s Additional Compensation Policy. 

Credit: 6 credits towards membership in the Center and 6 credits towards the Teaching Enhancement Certificate 

How to apply: Those interested should submit an application here. Download a copy of the application questions

*The use of AI is permitted in this application with transparency; if you use AI tools at any stage of your application, please include a brief disclosure of the tools used and how they contributed to your submission. Your disclosure does not impact your eligibility.  

Applications are due by May 15, 2026 

We invite you to apply and join a community of instructors committed to making their classrooms more interactive, more inclusive, and more effective.  

Apply Now