Active learning is a growing trend in higher education for enhancing student engagement, but activities can take a lot of time to incorporate into your classes. If you are new to teaching, I have good news: you don’t have to create your own activities from scratch; many already exist and are available for your use. I’ve used activities from many sources: mentors and peers, online archives (like ASA’s TRAILS, or First Publics), open-source web pages, and textbooks. Since using others’ activities almost always requires modification, my goal with this note is to provide practical advice for incorporating borrowed activities into your classes.

In my experience, time is the most important factor to consider when planning any activity: time to prep for the activity, time in class to do the activity, and time to review the activity. Most activities aren’t “one size fits all,” and when planning, you should make modifications and update materials as you see fit. I’ve found incredible activities that were outdated or used information that isn’t relatable for my current students, so I’ve spent extra time bridging that gap. I’ve also had to create handouts (including activity instructions and possible discussion questions), print handouts and activity materials, or make presentations to accompany activities. 

You also have to think about your class size: Do you want students to work alone or in groups? Many smaller groups, or a couple of bigger groups? Do you want them to do part of the assignment outside of class, or all of it in class?  Doing an activity in a 50-minute class with 80 students is different from doing the same activity in a 75-minute class with 30 students. You’ll have more time for setup and discussion in the latter, but those parts may also take less time because there are fewer participants. When planning the activity, account for some students needing additional explanation, and for students potentially being quiet during the review of the assignment. 

Reviewing the activity and the important takeaway(s) is also important. If you do a fun activity but your students don’t know why they’re doing it, then it isn’t beneficial. Having a conversation afterwards and relating it back to your other class material is necessary for the activity to be worthwhile. In the early days of my teaching, I didn’t prioritize this phase enough. I wouldn’t leave enough time for discussion at the end, or I wouldn’t prepare the students for the discussion in advance. A way that I’ve tried to remedy this is by giving them discussion questions in advance, on handouts or in the presentation, and by taking my own notes throughout the activity. 

I also ask my students how activities could be improved, especially if it’s my first time facilitating it. If it didn’t go to plan, can it be salvaged and used again or is it a waste of time? Sometimes, it takes a couple of tries to figure out what works best for you, and other times, you may not find value in trying it again. I often confess to students if it’s the first time I have tried an activity and let them know that it’s an experiment that we are conducting together to see if it works—and sometimes it doesn’t. In those cases, I tell them how I hoped it would have gone and what I wanted them to get from it so that the time was not entirely wasted. 

I recognize that some instructors may not have much time or resources for planning activities, but the good news is that you can increase student engagement by seeking out existing activities and creatively adapting them to your circumstances! Students will appreciate your efforts to break away from traditional lecture-style teaching and those moments will stick with them.

Megan Y. Phillips is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Sociology at Mississippi State University. She received her MA of Social Science from Georgia Southern University. In addition to working on her dissertation, Megan is committed to engaging students in critical thought through feminist pedagogy.