Big Classrooms are NOT for Education

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I was reading the New York Times today, where a University of Florida vignette was discussed.  Students have the option of watching the class lecture over the internet, instead of attending class in person.  You can read this story several different ways.

Obviously (if you know me), I am pro-education.  Any means to educate oneself or another is worthwhile. The problem with Americans is we think our education ceases the second we get the diploma of our dreams (some dream big with PhD or MD or similar; others dream differently with BA, BS, RN tags; still others desire that high school diploma).

I always loved chemistry- by the time I was six years old, I had a (full-blown) chemistry lab at my disposal (which came about, I might add).  I had the opportunity to examine my dad’s chemistry text- from when he went back to school to get an additional degree (but, still, long before I was born- or he was married). That chemistry book was so outdated, I really couldn’t use it for much.  (One could start with the periodic table…)  And, that’s the point.  My chemistry text was outdated for my children’s use, let alone my students’ needs.  And, I could pick almost any of my advanced texts (even my anatomy and physiology texts), as well.

However, that really is not the point of this discussion.  My problem is NOT with the posting of live (or previous term) lectures on the web.  I use them routinely from MIT, to this day.  The article discussed the need to post the lectures because the class size was 1500- and there was no lecture hall large enough to accommodate everybody.

I know education is expensive and this is a way to accommodate everybody at lower cost.  But, the quality is lower, too.  It is so much easier to not pay attention when the professor has no eye contact with the student.  It is so much easier to miss the point- and not get the opportunity to question the professor.  And, don’t talk to me about reaching a T.A.  I have been a T.A.- and a Professor- and there are universes of difference between the two in their knowledge of the subject and where it will apply in the future.

I had the opportunity (?) twice in my academic career to take two large classes.  One was biology (which for my school was 150 students) and the other was biochemistry (which had about 250 students).  It made no difference if the teacher were fantastic (one was and one was the exact opposite)- because we rarely got the chance to go one on one with the prof.  (I was pushy, I did- but that’s NOT the point.)  It was difficult to ask questions, because the lecture was 90 minutes, the professor had 85 minutes to cover material, and all the students had 5 minutes to ask questions.  The standard response was: ask the T.A.  (who rarely attends the lectures, I might add).

We need education for all.  We need smaller classes- not only at the elementary, middle, and high school, but at the college levels. Some of us are able to learn by ourselves, other can’t.  Some need the interactions with the instructor.  And, just because some of us can learn with little outside assistance does not mean we can serve all by remote learning.   We need these to learn and discern- and maintain America’s strengths- the ability to solve problems and make things.

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2 thoughts on “Big Classrooms are NOT for Education”

  1. While I was doing my Bachelors, I had 125 students in my class and it was so obvious that I wasn’t understanding a word. I tried to listen but with 125 people around, it was like a market. Coming from a school where the class size was limited to 30, I had more difficulty in adjusting to the 100 plus college classes. Also, with class timings of 45 minutes, only a few professors made the effort of focusing individually on each student.

    It depends on the country as well. In UAE, classes in college are smaller because institutions are well funded and fees are pretty high so they can “afford” having smaller classes. Whereas in India, with the population, the lack of good faculty, the government rules and regulations, limiting class sizes becomes tougher. Though private institutions are better at limiting class size, they become very hard on the pocket.

    Though we keep talking about education and its importance we somehow miss out on the quality, and many say quality comes at a price. A price too high for many I guess.
    Hajra recently posted..Weird Weight Loss Techniques!

    1. Hajra, there is a difference between attending a lecture and obtaining an education. We do learn at lectures; but an education requires one to learn a series of facts and concepts that build upon one another. That requires an interaction between the instructor and the student- it can happen via the printed page, it can happen via one-on-one interactions, it can happen via one-to-many interactions. It’s a function of the distractions that ensue in each environment, the abilities of the student, and the abilities of the instructor. It should be our goal that we maximize the results, not rely upon the ability of one to “tune out” the distractions. Also, the larger the audience, the more difficult it is for the instructor to determine what each student needs to coalesce the information into a useful basis.
      Thanks for your comments.
      Roy

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