Engaging students via interactive lecture activities inspired by common classroom practice

This article summarises the author’s experience transitioning from Further Education (FE) to Higher Education (HE) teaching in 2022-23. It identifies areas for concern in the author’s setting and outlines the author’s strategies for overcoming these obstacles, utilising their background in FE. In particular, this article explores common, engaging classroom activities and outlines why these activities require adapting for use in HE. Inspired by these classroom activities, this article presents a selection of interactive lecture activities promoting student engagement via formative assessment, adaptive teaching, and student ownership. It summarises how the activities have evolved over time and reflects on their use. Finally, the author reviews the success of the activities, discusses students’ reactions to them, and outlines future plans.