Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've been in both small classes and large classes. Everything from classes with 15 people to over 100. From my experience I must say that being in the class with more people is way better. When you are in a larger class, people ask more questions so the teacher explains things more thoroughly. In larger classes you can work in larger groups, where as the small class will only have 3-4 groups of 4-5 people. Likewise, in larger classes there is often more people to network with compared to the smaller classes.
However there seems to be a universal idea that smaller is always better and I am here to say that is not the case.
Wow, when I have been in huge lecture hall classes, questions were few and there were no large group discussions. You and I have had differing experiences.
Anything from 15 -40 worked well for splitting into groups or dialogue. I found when the class got too large, it got impersonal.
Fom the instructor's point of view, smaller is better. There is no way to get to know, even superficially, that many students and effectively teach. You might as well video and post the lectures, then hit the golf course.
I've had nothing but small classes since I attend a community college and I love it.
I find its a lot harder to try to be quiet and not participate if you're only one of 15 students.
I'm not a quiet student anyway. If I don't understand something, I'm not afraid to raise my hand and ask a question.
I like the fact that my professor knew my name and I'm pretty sure if it wasn't for smaller classes, I wouldn't have had a lot of my professors write me letters of recommendations or offer to write me letters of recommendations in the future.
In some classes a huge class wouldn't be that bad but for classes such as say Math where students will tend to have a lot of questions...I would prefer a small class.
I love the personal attention you get from professors in a smaller class. They address you by your name. My community college professors was awsome. I had a Statistics professor who let students come study at her home the weekend before tests. No way could that be done in a class with 100 students in it. I will be attending a university in the fall but it is not so large so the classes will not be as small but they will not be 80 students either.
My experience with large classes is that questions from students are not even allowed. There is a point of course where you can get too small. I was in one class where I was one of two and several where I was one of about 10. I would put the ideal range at between 20 and 40. Again, based on my own personal experience, once you get over a certain size, the dialogue drops rather than grows. Out of curiosity, killer2021, what college do you / did you attend?
As an artist, I totally thought SMALLER classes were better. More one on one time with the professor, more feedback and focus. Larger classes were distracting, boring and non personal. I believe I truly learned MORE in my smaller classes.
The smallest class I've been in had 5 students. The largest had 205 (which sucked cause the auditorium had only 202 seats..lol). I can't say I preferred one over the other.
I think it all depends on the students in the class, the professor, and the subject matter.
My biology class with 205 students was horrible (partially because it was at 8 am I would guess). The professor seemed so detached from the class, like he was just going through the motions. The students were all too asleep to participate and it wasn't a particularly interesting subject (to me).
On the other hand, my econ class had 170ish students and the teacher was passionate about the subject. The students were very interactive. The subject was interesting. Oddly enough, the professor knew every student by name. He could even tell you exactly which problems you missed on assignments or exams from memory. I enjoyed that class a lot, even with the large class size...
I've only had 4 classes more than 30 people and they were all horrible. They had to be lecture based because you couldn't have a discussion based class. I don't retain information well when it's being talked at me and gain much more insight from the debate of opinions of my classmates. That doesn't mean the professor doesn't teach, but they largely function as a facilitator.
If I have anything more than about 40 students, I don't have time to answer all of the questions AND finish the lecture. All I can really do is lecture, and if you have questions, see me after class, or preferably, during my office hours. Also, in a classroom or auditorium to hold all of these students, it's almost impossible to hear someone from the back of the room. Last but not least, I teach more than 1 class, so multiply those 50+ students by 3-5 classes, and unless you stand out in some way, I won't remember your name.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
smaller classes rock!!
