When was the last time a student asked you, “Professor, what are we going to do next class?” Not because they wanted to know what topic to study for an exam, but because they genuinely wanted to know what was coming next. There is a significant difference between students simply coming to class out of obligation and students who are excited to learn about what the next class entails. That sense of anticipation does not always happen spontaneously; it can be intentionally designed.
Designing classes that students look forward to does not mean turning the professor into an entertainer or making every session feel like a stand-up comedy set. It means creating learning experiences that combine curiosity, participation, relevance and connection, giving students a reason to want to be there.
Designing a class that excites students does not mean eliminating explanations. It means identifying opportunities for students to apply what they are learning. A challenge, a decision, a short case or a question without an obvious answer can all turn students from passive into active participants.
As educators, we should ask ourselves: What part of what I am about to explain could I make into something to solve, decide or create?
A simple way to design these types of experiences is to consider the class from the student’s perspective, rather than focus only on what happens during the session. Anticipation can begin before class when we spark curiosity; it can be sustained during class through participation, autonomy and content relevance; and it can continue after class, when students leave with an idea, an experience or a question worth remembering.
Build anticipation before class
The learning experience does not begin when students join a video call or walk into the classroom. Before the session, you can introduce a question, a dilemma, an image, a poll or a case. Instead of saying, “Next class, we will discuss innovation,” you might say, “Next class, you will have 20 minutes to save a company that is about to become irrelevant to its customers.” This way, we create anticipation rather than limiting the next session to the name of a topic or concept.
Replace part of the explanation with a challenge
If students already know that they will spend 90 minutes listening to the teacher, they may feel less excited about the session. But when there is an element of surprise – for example, they discover that they will need to make a decision, build something, compare alternatives or solve a problem – the experience changes dramatically. In these cases, we move from simply delivering content to designing learning experiences.
Make the content relevant to students
Every day brings new stories, cases, situations, trends and decisions worth analysing, and each student may approach them from a different perspective. The key question is: what value does this bring to their learning? Course topics can relate to entertainment, sports, culture, current events or other areas that students are familiar with. These connections can help them see course content not as something isolated from their lives, but as something they can apply to the world around them.
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Design moments that students will remember
These could include a team-based competition, a role-playing activity or a technology-supported challenge or a simulation. These meaningful experiences allow students to engage more actively. They are often the moments that students talk about long after the class has ended.
Make students feel that their presence matters
A class becomes more engaging when students feel that the experience would not be the same without them. Give them space to share their ideas and comments, and make those contributions part of the class to show students you value their participation. This will help them feel like they have an active role in their learning.
In the end, it is often the small details that can make the greatest difference: a thought-provoking question, a challenging activity, a discussion that creates space for students’ ideas or moments that become stories they later share with their classmates.
When students feel that what happens in class is meaningful, that their voices are heard and that their presence genuinely matters, learning becomes more exciting. Perhaps one of the best indicators for us is that, when the session ends, students leave not only thinking about what they learned, but also wondering what comes next and what they will have to do.
Rocío Elizabeth Cortez Márquez is a teacher and academic coordinator at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico.
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