Activating Large Lecture Financial Learning: Collaboration and Clickers During Covid-19

This paper examines our approach to teaching a large-lecture personal finance course promoting students’ financial literacy. We identify the context of this course, including the rationale for large-enrolment courses and issues with the format in general, describing how using clickers and active learning strategies results in increased engagement, attendance, and critical thinking. Learning outcomes designed to support student formation of both internal and external views of finance are holistic and expansive, broader than measures of wealth accumulation alone. Moreover, a strategic initiative focused on career readiness aligns specific competencies with course content focused on developing transferrable skills through practical, real-world examples designed to engage problem-solving and critical thinking. This pragmatic and practical focus linked these transferable skills to a framework of learning grounded in the twin concepts of financial capability and competency. Additionally, we address how Covid-19 disrupted these courses, detailing adjustments necessitated by the new reality of social distancing while adjusting our approach to student participation as we met simultaneously in face-to-face and synchronous Zoom sessions. We concluded that additional considerations must include equitable access to resources based on our pandemic experience. Future research should examine these adjustments in light of developing culturally responsive methods to promote equitable learning.