Interrogating the Challenge of Teaching Large Classes

The Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning (CHERTL) hosted a Teaching Large Classes Colloquium at the Eden Grove building on Thursday 5 November. The aim of this colloquium was to find ways in which lecturers and university management can find ways to deal with increasing student numbers. Lecturers at Rhodes have had to deal with the increased number of students over the last few years, meaning they have had to teach larger classes and often have had to repeat lectures.

CHERTL decided to host this colloquium because we wanted to share insights and experiences with lecturers from other institutions who have dealt with large student numbers, said Prof Chrissie Boughey, Dean of Teaching and Learning at Rhodes. We wanted people at Rhodes to share their experiences and understanding while at the same time learning from people at other institutions.

Dr Susan van Schalkwyk from Stellenbosch University and Professor Elizabeth de Kadt from the University of Johannesburg were invited to the colloquium to share their insights on working with larger classes of often 1000 plus students. At Rhodes, the largest classes are smaller compared to the smallest classes at some institutions in South Africa.

Large classes often put a strain on lecturers as they have an increased number of student marks to record, and they often have to repeat lectures. This can be absolutely overwhelming for lecturers, said Boughey.

At a panel discussion around issues and solutions of working with large classes, it was suggested that because lecturers have such limited time and resources they should rather invest more of their time to the students that are struggling and those at risk. Not that top students should be ignored, but top students already have contact with the lecturers as they often make appointments with the lecturers or e-mail lecturers to discuss work. Also top students are recognised in some form or another in almost every department in the university.

The use of technology also came up in the panel discussion because often in larger classes students do not fully participate in class discussions. There could be some benefits to using technology instead of the traditional lecture room setting when dealing with larger classes. For example, if an on-line message board was used to discuss class readings, there would be greater student participation.

Lecturers need to find out the other spaces where young people make meaning for themselves and find ways to manage learning and teaching in those spaces. Lecturing does not start and end in the classroom, the lecture space is vast. Boughey said that the library which is currently being extended should not be looked at as just a physical space but lecturers and students need to consider how they can bring it into working with large classes, how can the library be used as a solution to the increasing student numbers.

Rose Boswell of the Anthropology Department said that as lecturers they need to look beyond the size of the classroom and look at the individuals within the classroom. She said that lecturers need to make time in their schedules for one-on-one interactions with individual students and make connections with those students n larger classes.

As part of their strategy to deal with increasing student numbers, CHERTL is currently working with the Psychology department (which has some large classes) on a project that looks at how they can avoid repeating lectures twice a day. They are also waiting for approval on another project that will make use of electronics as a way to make lecture time more effective.

Story by Nompumezo Makinana