It’s Day 3, the final day of the STLHE conference in Toronto, but interesting breakout sessions have driven great turnout for an early Saturday morning in an otherwise deserted city. I’ve been looking forward to this particular breakout session for a while, though I was somewhat surprised by the conclusions that emerged.
Presented by Elizabeth Wooster and Tony Chambers of OISE, the session’s title pretty much says it all. OISE is in the midst of a longitudinal study on the effects of small classes on first year undergrads and the preliminary results are interesting.
But first, a review of the literature on small classes yielded mixed results. It seems that we can’t say definitively that small classes in any discipline actually generate more learning, critical thinking, or other competencies. Intuitively, those who have experienced small classes can say yes, it was a positive experience. But we don’t yet have the data to back up this conclusion and there are almost no longitudinal studies in this area.
Graduate students, with some professorial support and significant involvement from the Registrar’s Office, are leading the OISE study. Students were divided into a treatment and control group and the treatment group was given a small class experience in either a one- or two-term course. Pre and post surveys were used to gather qualitative data. Unfortunately, nothing quantitative is yet available. The Registrar’s Office will be providing marks data soon and NSSE scores will also be looked at, so the quantitative results are coming.
From the survey results, a few things stood out. Most striking was that results between the treatment and control groups were more or less identical across the board. In the pre survey, all students rated strong research credentials as the most important quality in a professor; coming out, the most important characteristic changed to the ability to maintain students’ attention and hold their interest, but again, it didn’t matter if you were in the treatment or control group.
When Dr. Chambers was asked whether we should focus new investments in lowering class sizes, his answer was striking. Based on the data, he suggested we should spend money on improving the quality of teaching in courses that currently exists before lowering class sizes. After looking at further data, a new response may emerge, but this is what the data tells us right now.
We have collectively made the assumption that you get greater student-faculty interaction and a better overall education in a small class. Certainly, small classes provide the potential, perhaps even the probability, that students will receive a better experience. But on a macro scale, we just don’t know how to measure if this potential is fulfilled.
One thing at least is certain: small classes alone do not ensure quality.
This post concludes OUSA’s blogging form the STLHE conference. Hope you enjoyed reading.
Alexi White
Executive Director
