Online Class Size - Help!

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by catwoman, Aug 24, 2002.

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  1. catwoman

    catwoman New Member

    I teach general education courses for a community college in Ontario, (Canada). Live classes are limited in number to 45 students. The same holds true for online classes. We use Blackboard and weekly discussions are a large part of each student's participation.

    Can anyone tell me if this is a reasonable number of students for an online course?

    Many thanks!
     
  2. DaveHayden

    DaveHayden New Member

    Hi

    At the College I am taking classes at they have up to 50 students per class. I've read that Penn State has dl classes of up to 200 students. Answering your question is tougher. Reasonable in what way? According to one study I read Instructors perceive that dl classes take more work than standard classes, but when studied it was actually just more often.
     
  3. 9Chris

    9Chris New Member

    Is the class broken down into sections?

    I have taken online classes at Empire State, and it seems that their are only 20 to 25 students per sections.

    How does one read papers (if grade is based on essays) if the class has over 50 students. Seems diffucult.
     
  4. Andy Borchers

    Andy Borchers New Member

    Catwoman - Totally on-line programs like UoP and Baker that operate in compressed 6 week terms typically limit class size to 15 or fewer students.

    I can't imagine providing detailed feedback to 45 students in an on-line class.

    Regards - Andy

     
  5. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member


    Totally insane, you will have to ask for more money tough. I teach one online class with 15 students and it takes me 10 hours a week, as Andy said, the biggest problem is the individual feedback. Even if it is a half of page, multiply by it 45 then you have to write 22 pages of feedback every week.
     
  6. David Williams

    David Williams New Member

    Cat,

    I'm close to completing the online BS in IS at UMass Lowell where it seems to me like the largest class in which I was enrolled numbered mid 20s. My day job is a psychologist and the largest class I taught as a grad student was about 30. I can't imagine doing justice to 45 in the traditional classroom much less online. I was in huge classes as an undergrad at Ohio State but the structure was lecture three days a week with hundreds of students and twice weekly small group recitation, or lab in the case of science courses, with a grad student instructor. Frankly, I don't see how one could approach even minimally adequate coverage with 45 online students if you offer the sort of detailed, quick turnaround instruction UML provides.

    David
     
  7. DaveHayden

    DaveHayden New Member

    Hi David

    I think you hit on the important points. Is this a lower division or upper division course? What percentage of the grade and/or class is the weekly discussion? Penn State's class I referenced has three people interacting with students. I presume it is lower divison but the article didn't state which it is. State universities normally have lower division lecture classes of up to 200 or so students in which the students receive little or no feedback from the Professor. Typically the only feedback would be midterm and final grades.
     
  8. Homer

    Homer New Member

    From my experience, percentage of grade has a fairly large impact. When that percentage was reduced (midstream) to 10% from 20% in one online course I recently completed, the level of discussion and number of posts dropped precipitously.
     
  9. catwoman

    catwoman New Member

    Percentage for Class Participation

    First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for his/her help!

    Second, I'd like to give you a little more information about my Blackboard course. It is an Ontario college-level (not university) general education art history/appreciation course. If it were offered 'live', it would amount to 42 hours of class instruction (3 hours per week for 14 weeks). Online it is offered in a more compressed format but is still 'worth' 42 hours of instruction.

    The breakdown of marks is as follows:
    15% x 2: two short reports
    25%: final essay
    45%: overall discussion board participation (*we cover a different topic each week except when a paper is due)

    Class size is up to 45. When I taught this course for the first time this summer, I easily had 100+messages per week to read (and that's after I severely limited how much each student could post). I also had to respond intelligiently and appropriately. Students were expected to read ALL messages as well but I could tell from the stats management section that few did so...and I couldn't blame them!

    I am a P/T teacher. This is not my only life but I do enjoy what I do and at least have a background in the subject being taught. I have other teaching experience as well but my knowledge is limited so I do appreciate everyone's assistance!

    Thanks again,

    meow
     

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