As a norm now rather than the exception, large classes do not necessarily mean less effective teaching compared to smaller ones, but they do definitely require a lot more prior planning and effort to run effectively. Studies have suggested that (a) the quality of teaching and (b) the assessments provided are more important determinants than class size alone on the learning experience of students¹.

However, an increased class size undeniably raises several inherent issues and increases the complexity of the teaching task: how to manage a larger and more diverse population of students (especially for cross-faculty module with students coming from diverse backgrounds and levels of competencies); the need for constant communication among members of the teaching team, tutors and students; how to cope with the greater administrative workload of monitoring students’ progress; and the challenge to promote active class participation. Some negative connotations and problems that many teachers often associate with large classes are summarised as follows²:

However, students’ feedback often shows that large classes, like any other type of class, could still work well if:

These are really just basic principles of good teaching that would apply in both large- and small-class settings; large classes merely magnify some of the problems that might be much more manageable in a smaller class. Although these principles do not address the entire repertoire of issues relating to teaching large classes, they definitely deal with at least two-thirds of the problems based on the experiences of most teachers.

The students’ active interest can be instilled if instructors take the time to explain difficult concepts, and truly come across as wanting the students to understand rather than trying to just complete a syllabus. Lectures are to be engaging and fun, but yet substantial. Some effective yet simple methods that are often taken for granted are:

Some other methods of dealing with large classes are as follows:

 

 

 

As a norm now rather than the exception, large classes do not necessarily mean less effective teaching compared to smaller ones, but they do definitely require a lot more prior planning and effort to run effectively. Studies have suggested that (a) the quality of teaching and (b) the assessments provided are more important determinants than class size alone on the learning experience of students¹.

However, an increased class size undeniably raises several inherent issues and increases the complexity of the teaching task: how to manage a larger and more diverse population of students (especially for cross-faculty module with students coming from diverse backgrounds and levels of competencies); the need for constant communication among members of the teaching team, tutors and students; how to cope with the greater administrative workload of monitoring students’ progress; and the challenge to promote active class participation. Some negative connotations and problems that many teachers often associate with large classes are summarised as follows²:

However, students’ feedback often shows that large classes, like any other type of class, could still work well if:

These are really just basic principles of good teaching that would apply in both large- and small-class settings; large classes merely magnify some of the problems that might be much more manageable in a smaller class. Although these principles do not address the entire repertoire of issues relating to teaching large classes, they definitely deal with at least two-thirds of the problems based on the experiences of most teachers.

The students’ active interest can be instilled if instructors take the time to explain difficult concepts, and truly come across as wanting the students to understand rather than trying to just complete a syllabus. Lectures are to be engaging and fun, but yet substantial. Some effective yet simple methods that are often taken for granted are:

Some other methods of dealing with large classes are as follows: