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Show lessons, fail 2001 page 19 The Ins and Outs of Teaching Large-Format Classes BY JACQUELINE CHENEY PHOTOS BY RICK PARTRIDGE It's 7:30 a.m. and Professor Cal Boardman is about to begin teaching Foundations of Business Thought. It's a challenge most professors wouldn't look forward to - an early morning discussion class that applies classical literature to business principles. However, Boardman's task is more daunting than the time and the subject matter; he's teaching a class of 115 students. What's even more extraordinary is that he's got a full house. "It's like this everyday," Boardman says with a smile. The discussion room is large enough to accommodate 105 students, so the remaining students sit on the floor, eager to learn before most people have had breakfast. Sleepy? Maybe. Bored? Never. Boardman knows he must keep his students involved for this hour-and-a-half class to be effective. Sitting casually on the table at the front of the U-shaped classroom in the College of Business1 Christensen Center, Boardman begins class with a question, "What did you think about the readings?" Sure, it seems ordinary enough, but what makes this class different is that the students actually respond. The students begin to lead the discussion, and Boardman allows them to be the players in this classroom performance. "I tell my students, 'It's no fun to know what I think. Your opinion counts as much as mine,'" Boardman says. This doesn't mean Boardman comes to class unprepared. If anything, he has to prepare more, he says. He has a mental outline of how he wants the class to go, and by listening to his students, he can direct the discussion without intimidating them. "He lets students make their own discoveries in class," says junior Grant Beckler. "He referees the discussion but he doesn't try to control it." Boardman links his class attendance with this trusting environment. "We can learn from each other," he says. "You've got to be in tune with the people. Open up all the senses. Be honest." * * * It's a philosophy that not all large-format classes share, but one that students wish they would see more often. Whether it is a discussion class with 50 to 100 students or a lecture class with 100 to 400, some faculty and students believe that large classes can work, if the instructors are willing to work at it. "The lack of dialogue in general is possibly the most important factor contributing to ineffectiveness in large classrooms," senior Karena Rogers said. "When the instructor is reduced to sole lecture, the class takes on a less interactive atmosphere and the student is easily bored and distracted, and is even less likely to attend." Other students agree, citing long, boring, straight-from-the-book lectures as reasons why they dislike large-format classes. "I don't feel like I'm going to miss something if I don't go," senior Jenni Clarke said. "Most times you can learn more from reading the book on your own than you can from the lectures." Students say they feel like "nobodies" in the large classes where instructors don't know names or faces. Students say many instructors don't make them feel important. "The instructor doesn't know or care who you are," Clarke said. The classroom setup also creates problems. "The mere physicality of the class being held in such a large room, with no ability to see one another or even sometimes hear one another or the instructor is distracting and frustrating," Rogers said. Students aren't the only ones singing songs of disgust. Instructors also say there are drawbacks to teaching large-format classes. Instructors' concerns are primarily with grading, which is more time-consuming with large classes even with the help of teaching assistants. Francis Brown, dean of the College of Mines and Earth Sciences, said he gets the best response from his students |
