The Uncanny Art of Managing A Large Lecture Class
Elizabeth Richmond-Garza, Director of the Program in Comparative Literature and Associate Professor in the English Department at UT Austin, creates an immersive experience for her students in UGS 303 Modernity, Anxiety, and the Art of the Uncanny. As students walk into the lecture hall each class they are greeted with music from her curated Uncanny Music Spotify playlist. Professor Richmond-Garza’s unabashed excitement about her bizarre and uncanny course material is contagious.
This Signature Course carries the Global Cultures Flag and the Writing Flag. Professor Richmond-Garza helps students develop an understanding of non-U.S. cultural practices through multimedia content. Readings and content are focused on uncanny material from Russia, Germany, Austria, France, and other countries throughout Europe, such as “The Sandman” by E.T.A. Hoffman, Dracula by Bram Stoker, or Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov.
Each class is a conglomeration of lecture, literary texts, images, videos, audio clips, and a live Twitter feed. This multimedia approach helps students process the material in order to address the objectives of the Global Cultures Flag: “students will critically reflect on their respective cultural experiences… and will recognize different perspectives and worldview from non-U.S. cultural groups.” She uses PowerPoints of art from the relevant time period to connect students to the historical background of the subject and encourage discussion of how visual art can uncover social phenomena.
Cutter Dalton, a first-year student in the course, shares that he was pleasantly surprised to discover the course focused on the historical context in which uncanny literature has been written. He appreciated that the Global Cultures Flag facilitated a stronger emphasis on learning about other cultures. “I think it is important, as citizens of the world, for UT students to be active and learned members of the global community they are a part of,” he says.
There are several hundred students in the course, so Professor Richmond-Garza utilizes several engagement strategies. In addition to using different types of media, she employs all of the space in the classroom, coming down off the stage and walking throughout the class. She uses straw polls and callouts to ask students for answers.
It can be difficult to engage a large lecture hall full of students, especially if many of them are there to fulfill degree requirements rather than satiate their curiosity about the course topic. Professor Richmond-Garza acknowledges that, at first, some students “have little sense of the content,” and she understands that not every student will be passionate about uncanny and bizarre art, film, and literature.
She makes “activating students’ interest into a game, to see how many and through what means I can get on board each week,” Professor Richmond-Garza says. She also remains “unrelentingly enthusiastic and patient,” which allows her to focus on solutions instead of becoming preoccupied. She has found that unflinching buy-in of the TAs and herself naturally solves many problems with student disinterest.
Dalton says he was intimidated by the large class size at first, but that Professor Richmond-Garza made the class engaging by frequently asking questions and encouraging all the students to share their opinions. “I believe she sees the best in all of her students, and that belief has definitely contributed to the high amount of active participation,” he says.
Through Twitter Professor Richmond-Garza involves students that are shy about speaking in large crowds. During class, she continuously checks the Twitter feed as she lectures, and then pauses and addresses questions when enough accumulate. It is not required for students to participate via Twitter but instead “allows another modality of contact for students who are comfortable using it,” she says.
The Skills and Experience Flags are a unique and innovative feature of all undergraduate degrees at The University of Texas at Austin. The Flags are designed to provide the enriched education that all students will need to become effective future leaders in our society and a constantly evolving workplace.
For more information about the Flags, contact the Center for Skills & Experience Flags office
By Laura Robinson, Graduate Assistant for CSEF
