Utilizing a spreadsheet to create random group assignments, he posts these on the Web where students find out their group's number ahead of time. When they come to the lecture, they find a map of the classroom projected on the screens showing where each group should be sitting. From this bit of Students are quick to spot gratuitous uses of technology in the classroom, and they are not shy about pointing them out. The 90 or so groups then escape to the hallway, go outside of the building or stay in the seats of the room to engage one another in the problematic issues Pollak has set up for them. I worry that large lecture classes invite too much passivity.
Students feel that if they show up for class and take notes, then they have done their part.
Most cutting edge scientific research in my field is highly collaborative and interdisciplinary. I want students to make contact with each other and draw upon each other's interests, experiences, and skills in problem solving. When I reflect on the differences between Abnormal Psychology Past and Abnormal Psychology Present, I know the comparison is not fair. Professors made do with what they had. Still, the thing that sticks out most is the idea of comfort.