Abstract:

Many colleges and universities are currently experiencing a very impulsive expansion, while undergoing a range of financial challenges (Douglas and McNamara, 2002). While large classes in higher education are not a new occurrence, they are now becoming a more recurrent feature of the university environment. With such an economic recession, academics are now being faced with challenges that are leading professors to teach increasingly large classes sizes (Gibbs and Jenkins, 1992). When contemplating on what a large class size consist of, Chism (1989) defined it as a class with an enrollment of 100 or more college students. There are also incidences of as many as 500 students being enrolled in some classes depending on the department and class organization (lecture, tutorial, lab work (Chism, 1989).
One of the challenges of teaching large classes is that professors will not know the student names and will have little personal if any contact with most of these students. Moreover, many “traditional” tasks such as giving out syllabus during class, in-class tests, pop quizzes, assigning homework, group projects, and assignments for extra credit will be challenges as well (Doughas and McNamara, 2002). With decreasing funding due to drastic cuts in higher education budgets, many professors do not have the resources for teaching/graduate to help them effectively manage large classes making technology a necessity in these courses. Chizmar, Walbert, Hurd and Moore (1999) stressed that good teaching principles must drive the choices of instructional technology and that technology should be used to enhance the quality of teaching and learning and not distract from these principles.
In this presentation, the authors using their experiences with technology in large classes, will attempt to demonstrate how technology phenomenon may be effectively employed to (1) distribute information to students (such as announcements, syllabus, powerpoint presentations, e-mails, video); (2) collect information from students (test, assignments, homework); (3) link students to sites containing data sets and articles relevant to the class; and (4) to assist students in learning concepts using on-line “labs” and tutorials. The presentation will conclude by identifying some challenges associated with technology in large classes and solutions to these challenges.

Keywords:

Large Classes, Technology.