To:                  The Senate

From:              Edith Benkov, Chair, Academic Personnel Committee

Date:               December 2, 2003

Re:                  Faculty Issues Involved in Staffing Very Large Classes

 

 

Preliminary Report

 

Background:

 

On March 4, 2003, the Senate asked Academic Personnel to look into faculty issues involved in staffing very large classes. The referral 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 Committees deliberations. The following is a preliminary report of our findings. Since Fπ03 is the first semester that we have had courses with enrollments exceeding 500 students, we intend to continue work on this referral through next semester and present a second report.

 

To familiarize us with the functioning of a very large class, the members of the Committee consulted with faculty (SDSU and non-SDSU) who have experience in teaching very large classes. We also met with Prof. Tom Warschauer who had brought this issue to the Senate.

 

As a result of these meetings and discussions at the beginning of the Fall Semester to determine how we might best proceed with this referral, Academic Personnel decided to survey faculty members teaching courses with enrollment of over 240 students. That enrollment was chosen to correspond to courses for which enrollment surpassed the number of students mentioned in assigned time code 11b.

 

Overview of Survey Results:

 

A total of 24 courses were included in this group and we received responses for 18 of these, in four colleges. The survey included general questions such as academic rank, enrollment, numbers and availability of GAs, items relating to the type of exams, offices hours, use of technology and the faculty perception of how teaching a large section related to service and research. Since this survey was the first step in our information gathering, we will briefly summarize what we have learned so far.

 

Though the very large sections are taught by all ranks of faculty, professors, followed next by lecturers, teach the majority of these courses. Of the full-time faculty teaching, the majority is teaching only the very large class or two courses, one of which is an advanced level or graduate course, with a lower enrollment cap. Lecturers may be teaching one or two other courses than this. These courses are taught in a variety of disciplines: Accounting, Art, Biology, Chemistry, Economics, English, Geology, IDS, History, Humanities, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology. Enrollments tend to cluster in two groups: roughly between 240-300 students and over 400 students. (All courses in the 500-seat classroom, with the exception of one, have over 400 students). Most courses have some sort of GA support, ranging from 1 GA to 8 GAs who run breakout sessions. A course structure with GAs who serve as graders is more common than courses with breakout sessions. A variety of testing and evaluation formats are used, from scantrons to essays. Technological enhancements, both in terms of smart classroom use and systems such as Blackboard, are regularly incorporated into the course structures.

 

Five major questions/issues emerged from the respondentsπ comments:

 

• Impact on research and service
• Does teaching a very large course require more time?
• Does it interfere with faculty research or service?
• GA involvement according to student enrollments
• How many GAs are needed?
• What type of GA support is the most appropriate?
• Assigned time for teaching very large classes
• What type of assigned time can be reasonably expected for teaching very large courses?
• Course load for lecturers
• What percentage of appointment is appropriate for a very large course?
• Faculty training (technology/pedagogy)
• How much training should a faculty member have for teaching a very large course?
• What type?

 

What also emerged from the respondentsπ comments is that it is unlikely we will find one answer to any of these questions that will apply to all the teaching scenarios that are being played out this semester.

 

Though we make no specific recommendations at this time, we do encourage faculty who are teaching very large classes to share their experiences with their colleagues. Such interactions will help those colleagues who may be considering teaching very large classes and will also facilitate faculty discussion of the topic.

Next Step:

 

For the next stage of our investigation, we will pursue the issues outlined above.

First, we will follow-up with an end-of semester questionnaire. Since most faculty had not taught a course of this size before, we would like to compare mid-semester reactions to post-course reactions.

Second, though another short questionnaire during the Spring, we will ask those faculty who will be teaching the same course to compare their perceptions with their experience in the Fall.

Lastly, we will again survey faculty who will be teaching a very large course for the first time.

 

Academic Personnel will report back at the April π04 Senate Meeting