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Show lessons, fail 2001 page 21 more effective the learning experience becomes," Vergobbi said. "By knowing and using everyone's names, the students learn each others' names quickly as well, which builds a class identification and partnership. Simply, we know each other, and it's a lot easier to engage in a discussion or an activity when you're with friends." However, knowing names isn't always necessary as long as you interact with the students in and out of class. Young calls it the personal touch. He admits to not having the memory to learn all his students' names like he has in his "younger years," but he encourages students to participate in class and visit with their instructors during office hours if they want their instructors to know them individually. Sophomore Dan Leatham said he enjoys large classes because he always feels like he can meet with the teacher after class if he's not getting enough interaction during class. Many instructors respond to e-mails or phone calls if they can't provide long periods of time for office hours. Senior Brian Jolley said his computer science professor Robert Kessler always responded to student e-mails. "We were a priority to him," he said. Students' problems with large-format classes are mostly based on this priority concept. Jolley says he knows most instructors have a lot of responsibilities other than teaching, but instructors lose their effectiveness when they let their students know that other responsibilities are more important than they are. Students say their instructors often make comments like, "I didn't have time to grade your assignments because I'm working on my dissertation," or "I had a conference to go to so I don't really have anything planned for today." Boardman says these comments have no place in the classroom. He says he definitely understands that teaching is a part of the job, not the whole job, but he tells his students that his schedule is wide open for them. Making them a priority makes his job easier, he said. Once students feel important in a class, trust and respect often follow, but it's up to the instructors to make their classes an open environment for learning to occur, Jolley said. Instructors create this open environment in a number of ways. Connie Madden, a clinical instructor at the College of Nursing, teaches hands-on labs. The labs have about 40 students, large for a nursing class, but there are additional instructors to help out. The students watch demonstrations of nursing skills in groups and practice the skills with partners. "In a class where actual physical performance of a skill or art is to be evaluated, it is imperative that students feel their instructor is in a position to fairly evaluate them," Madden said. "This involves developing trust and respect, which is accomplished in small group work through demonstration, incorporation of current research into discussion, and creating an environment in which the student feels free to ask questions." Junior Larry Keister says the setup and style of the clinical nursing lab makes it easier to ask questions and get feedback from the instructors. He believes most large-format classes would work better if they used smaller groups for group work. The nursing students did have a sense of camaraderie not found in most large-format classes. They worked together, helped each other, and even sang "Happy Birthday" to one of their classmates. It's often this feeling of working as a team that students enjoy in smaller classes, but when a large-format class can create this same feeling, it is often successful. Sophomore Brittany Clarke says she enjoys her Scientific Foundations of Nutrition and Health class because of the positive teaching style of her instructor, Beverly Webber. Although the class has close to 200 students, Clarke said Webber makes it feel smaller. "Students could easily feel stupid in a class that big, but she's just so nice. She encourages students to participate and appreciates their responses." Webber says she works hard to create a comfortable learning environment. "I think it is important to try to reach every student, and this is difficult in a large class. But I think interaction with me and with each other is very important. In my classes, it is possible to have serious discussions with a large group." Students agree that interaction is important. Many students said they don't mind speaking up as long as they know their instructors won't embarrass them in front of their classmates. Senior Brooke Atwood says she always felt comfortable in Vergobbi's Mass Media Law class. "Every comment made in class discussion was valid. There were no stupid comments. Because the class consisted mostly of discussion, if you didn't participate you felt out of the loop." Students get a different perspective on stations during the class for hands-on nursing skills from instructor Lynn Hollister. The students rotate around instruction. |