Date: October 7, 2003

To: University Senate

From: Academic Policy and Planning Committee

Re: Review of Academic Issues Involved in Teaching Very Large Classrooms

Information Item:

Review of Academic Issues Involved in Teaching Very Large Classrooms

INTRODUCTION

On March 4, 2003 the Senate asked the Academic Policy and Planning Committee to consider potential academic policy issues implicit in teaching very large classrooms (classrooms with over 240 students). The request was motivated by concern for maintaining high quality of instruction and of the studentsπ academic experience while the University was adding large and very large classes and completing the new 500-seat facility in ENS 280. The request contained several specific questions to guide the Committeeπs deliberations. The following report is the result of our investigation and discussion of the charge.

To help us understand the issues and challenges better, the Committee consulted with several SDSU faculty who have extensive experience in teaching very large classes: Profs. Patrick Abbott (Geological Sciences), Paul Sergeant (Sociology), and Gene Wittenberg (Accounting). We were also helped by Dr. David Sharpe, ITS Director. We consulted available literature, including Teaching and Learning in Large Classes (Bridges, George S., and Scott A. Desmond, eds. Washington, D.C.: American Sociological Association, 2000); Teaching Large Classes: Tools and Strategies (Carbone, Elisa. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1998); and the National Research Council Report Evaluating and Improving Undergraduate Teaching in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (2003, available at www.nap.edu/catalog/2004). Finally, the AP&P chair attended a workshop on teaching very large classes offered by an outside expert, Dr. Diane Ebert-May, on May 9, 2003. All of these inputs contributed to the Committeeπs discussions and are reflected in the suggestions and recommendations presented in this report.

As our investigation and deliberation proceeded, the Committee increasingly felt that the educational quality issues presented by very large classrooms are ultimately issues of student learning and do not lend themselves to one-size-fits-all solutions or universally applicable guidelines. As we considered the questions suggested in the Senate request, we realized that specific, prescriptive answers to them would not apply to all departments and situations and lead to further questions. At the same time, we felt strongly that the issue of educational quality and student learning in very large classes, as in all other classes, belongs to the faculty. Therefore, rather than elaborate increasingly detailed and prescriptive solutions, we developed broad guidelines for departments and faculty colleagues, using the questions to frame our discussions.

The conclusions and recommendations presented in this report are therefore intended to provide foci for discussion at the departmental level. We see the specific issues listed here as neither exhaustive of the topic nor as a ≥to do≤ list; rather, we present them as the sorts of issues that faculty colleagues may want to explore with other colleagues within departments as well as with appropriate administrators. These issues, as well as any others that we may not have considered but which may arise, should become an important element of the continuing conversation about teaching and learning on our campus, as they have become on many campuses nationally. In this way, the present exigency presented by increased use of very large classrooms may, and should, become another stimulus to promoting a culture of learning and conversation about learning on our campus.

The report begins with a discussion of the general assumptions that underlie our approach to the issue of educational quality in very large classes and that lead to our recommendations. Next comes a list of the sorts of considerations that departments and faculty might take into account in their discussions of and planning for teaching very large classes. Finally, we offer our conclusions and recommendations to frame further discussions of the issue of large and very large classes on our campus.

GENERAL ASSUMPTIONS

The Committee agreed that central to the question of educational quality in very large classes is the question of the quality of student learning. From this perspective, the issue of very large classes needs to be considered within a national move from teaching institutions to learning institutions. The major focus of any discussions of vary large classes, just as in the case of other types of learning environments, should be student learning. Discussions of learning in very large classes need to consider both the challenges and the opportunities offered by this educational environment.

Teaching very large classes need not be considered a compromise with economic realities. The idea that the learning that occurs in very large classes is necessarily of a lower quality is not supported by available evidence or literature or by faculty with experience teaching such classes.

The teaching and learning issues presented by very large classes are neither all new nor necessarily peculiar to very large classes. Many of these concerns that have always needed reflection and attention; the challenges presented by teaching very large classes exacerbate these issues and thus force us to deal with them. From this perspective, the ≥problem≤ of very large classes provides an excellent opportunity to revisit many of our pedagogical assumptions and practices, to stimulate discussion of them in our community, and to reinvigorate the culture of learning and the collegial exchange about teaching and learning on our campus.

MAJOR CONSIDERATIONS

The Committee identified eight major categories of issues that have to be considered in relation to teaching very large classes. Again, the list is neither exhaustive nor intended as a list of ≥problems≤ or ≥solutions.≤ Rather, our intent was to provide a list of topics for consideration and discussion at the instructor, department, and relevant administrator level. We expect good ideas and solutions to come from a collaboration of qualified and concerned colleagues, department chairs, and well-placed administrators. For each department or faculty member the specific solutions may be different, yet still equally contribute to the quality student learning because of sensitivity to context, subject matter, location, personalities, technical capacities, experience, and other ≥local≤ factors. The experienced colleagues we talked to, the literature we consulted, and the experts we heard all agree that there is no one-fits-all prescription for success, that teaching very large classes successfully is an art not suitable or congenial for everyone, yet an art at which some excel. At the same time, while no faculty member should be made to teach very large classes, any faculty members who does needs to become as familiar as possible with the specific challenges, opportunities, and considerations presented by this environment. The list of considerations below is intended to stimulate such inquiry and discussion. (The list is not arranged in any particular order.)

1. Facilities and Technology/Media Considerations

a. Rooms (i.e. smart classrooms)

b. Needed equipment

c. Software

d. Touch pads

2. Recruitment/scheduling Considerations

a. Student schedules (i.e. making certain new students donπt end up exclusively in very large classes)

b. Information for students (i.e. letting students know ahead of time that they are getting into a large class)

3. Pedagogical Considerations: Delivery Format

a. Lecture, or

b. Distance learning, or

c. Hybrid

d. Need for innovation and flexibility

4. Student Learning Considerations

a. Student schedules

b. Student learning outcomes

c. Quality control in breakout sessions

d. Need to provide support or alternatives for students who may not do well in very large classes

e. Help for students who need extra help and adjustment, need to monitor the progress of non-traditional students?

f. Need not to see failure to thrive in large classes as ≥failure≤ or ≥unprepared ness≤ on the part of the student

g. Need to make expectations clear ahead of time (i.e. syllabi), especially regarding the various modalities students will be expected to engage with (i.e. Blackboard, email, internet, etc.). Such expectations may need to be listed in the class schedule.?

h. Need to prepare students at the level of advisement?

i. Need to consider basic information literacy issues which get exacerbated in large classes (i.e. plagiarism, use of electronic resources)

5. Assessment Considerations

a. Grading

b. Evaluations

c. Continuing effectiveness evaluation studies

6. Behavioral and class management (operational) Considerations

Student considerations:

a. Attendance

b. Plagiarism

Faculty considerations:

a. Giving exams

b. Exam security

7. Economic Considerations

a. Economies of scale involved

8. Support Considerations

a. TA selection

b. TA training

c. Assigned time for faculty

CONCLUSIONS

Our examination of the literature and discussions with experienced faculty from this campus and outside revealed that very large classes have been taught with great success at many U.S. universities, not only elite universities but also large public universities. While universities, student populations, campus cultures, and the proclivities of faculty differ, there seems no reason to fear that very large classes as such present an imminent threat to academic quality, although it needs to be recognized that they are not appropriate everywhere, in all subject areas, or to all students. However, such decisions of appropriateness is best made locally, by concerned faculty and departments--that is, but those who know the specific demands and capacities of the curriculum, the subject area, the educational materials and media, and the teachers and students. Therefore, it is ultimately the specific faculty who ≥own≤ the issue. On the department and campus level, increased use of very large classes is ultimately a matter of cultural adaptation to change. On an individual level, many faculty at SDSU have taught very large classes with great success for many years and have amassed considerable expertise. This expertise should be tapped by colleagues and departments as they launch into their own discussions of teaching very large classes.

At the same time, we must consider the possibility of a cascading effect, as more classes grow larger and the use of very large classes becomes more widespread. Such a development might have a number of impacts. These include:

∑ Impacts on campus culture (i.e. increased use of graduate and even undergraduate assistants in large classes may focus the University on a culture of pedagogy; scholarship on teaching and learning may become more fully integrated into the overall academic endeavor, along with disciplinary research and subject-matter professional activities).?

∑ Impact on faculty recruitment.

∑ Impact on undergraduate and graduate education (i.e. increasing attention on teaching how to teach, esp. at the graduate level, and not solely on disciplinary content; increased competitiveness of SDSU graduates, esp. with advanced degrees).

RECOMMENDATIONS

The issue of very large classes needs to be recognized as existing within an ecological system, consisting of theoretical frameworks for teaching and learning, administrative support structures, departmental principles for decision making (who teaches these classes? who takes them? what is the appropriate schedule? what support to students and faculty will be given?), physical facilities, technical support structures and resources, and instructor and student preparation.

Ultimately, the responsibility for the success of every very large class needs to be taken by all the partners in the dialog: faculty teaching the classes; departments, colleges, and appropriate support administration and personnel. The collaborative process of creating the climate and foundations for success needs to involve the Center for Teaching and Learning, ITS, Assessment Council, faculty with experience teaching large classes and faculty teaching large classes currently, librarians, administrators, and students with experience in large classes, as well as technical support personnel and administrators.

Some of the components of success to be worked out include:

∑ Faculty development initiatives (building on good practices and expertise existing on campus and beyond).?

∑ Faculty reward structures (i.e. equitable assigned time based on FTES).

∑ Support structures for faculty and teaching assistants (departments and deans need to establish an appropriate policy of support for instructors teaching very large classes, as well as for assistants or part-time faculty participating in the effort. Support should also include creation of support structures, such as establishment of a continuing learning community of faculty at SDSU and elsewhere (i.e. electronic chat rooms, newsletter, resource center, meetings and colloquia, and so on), creation of a ≥Large Class Handbook≤ or a newsletter distributed to all faculty teaching large classes, creation of a dedicated website, and others.

∑ Continuous improvement and feedback (i.e. videotaping, colleague class visits, student feedback--not just class evaluations, faculty and student questionnaires, faculty and student focus groups, and so on).

∑ On-going monitoring of outcomes associated with classes of various sizes.

In the context of a concerted, collaborative, and sustained effort and campus-wide dialog aimed at an overall enhancement of student learning at SDSU, very large classes have the potential to enhance the undergraduate and faculty experience and the overall quality of education at SDSU.