Bigger classes hit GCSU in fall

Smaller classes. It’s a common reason students have for making GCSU the college destination of their choice. But with the current economic situation, GCSU is beginning an experiment looking into larger classes. Currently, there are three classes in the fall semester of 2010 that will have enrollments between 130-160 people.

GCSU will be experimenting with course redesign, a project of the National Center for Academic Transformation and based out of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The project aims to lower financial costs and focuses primarily on broader, large-enrollment introductory courses, mostly including core classes that students are required to take.

“It’s really an economic thing. There is less money in the budget, so we want to save a few dollars,” said Dr. Craig Pascoe, a professor of history at GCSU. “This program is designed to create a better classroom environment for students and it also introduces a more efficient way of teaching. We also want to make sure we keep up with the university’s mission of providing a solid liberal arts education.”

Pascoe will teach a United States Since 1877 class to 160 students in the fall. A World Civilization and Society I class will be taught to 130 people by professor Stephen Auerbach. Pascoe’s class will be taught in the Arts & Sciences Auditorium, while Auerbach’s class will be taught in the Peabody Auditorium in the Kilpatrick Education Building.

Also, there is a Politics and Society hybrid/online class that will have an enrollment of 160 people and be taught by an instructor yet to be determined. It will also be taught in Peabody Auditorium.

“This is an experiment in which we’ll hire the redesign coordinator and that coordinator will teach the class,” said Dr. Jan Mabie, chair of the Department of Government and Sociology. “The course will meet once a week for the lecture portion and the hybrid part will be significantly online. We’re going to have graduate assistants and upper division senior undergrad mentors helping out with the course as well.”

According to Mabie, the class will not be available to incoming freshmen.

“We want students to make informed decisions about taking this class . so it will only be for returning and continuing students,” Mabie said. “If the students like it, and we determine it is in keeping with our liberal arts mission, we will begin to open more of these classes.”

Pascoe is no stranger to teaching bigger classes, having taught courses with enrollments of more than 300 people at the University of Georgia. He said the class size requires a much different style of teaching.

“It really takes a different type of delivery. You have to treat it almost like you’re on stage and making a big presentation,” Pascoe said. “You can’t stick someone in there who will be seen as boring and not involved with the students. You have to provide things like humor and an interactive environment to reach the students.”

In assisting with that, Pascoe said new and improved technology will be a part of the equation.

“We’re looking at things such as wireless microphones where we can move around the class and talk to students directly, and get them talking,” Pascoe said. “We also want to be able to take movie clips instead of having to show whole movies. The hope is it will provide more a slicker and smoother presentation.”

Pascoe said with his class being held in the Arts & Sciences Auditorium, students will get an enhanced experience when it comes to presentations.

“It’s one thing to have a regular television in there and showing something, but when you get the big projector up there like we will have, it will intrigue the students more,” Pascoe said. “I’ve shown the first 30 minutes of ‘Saving Private Ryan’ to my classes in the past and the transition from a 15-20 inch television screen to a huge projector screen makes a huge difference.”

Still some students prefer smaller classes.

“I prefer smaller classes. It gives me a better chance to get to know my professors and classmates, and makes learning more comfortable,” sophomore history major Becka Woods said. “But if the class has to be large I have no problem taking it.”

Junior chemistry major Brian McKinnon had several larger classes while he was a student at Georgia Tech and he too prefers the smaller class environment.

“Although I feel like it is the only option for the bigger universities, it is definitely not for GCSU,” McKinnon said. “All of my core classes at Tech had more than 150 students, and the professor never knew our names. There was a constant line outside his or her door during office hours, and it gave me the feeling that if I was going to get extra help in the class, it was going to be on my own time.”

While the big concern among some is that the larger classes will interfere with the liberal arts mission of smaller class sizes, Pascoe said that the difference is not as drastic as one might think.

“Studies have shown there’s really no real change in terms of student experience with only 150 or so students as opposed to 70,” Pascoe said. “If we kept up literally with this mission, there would be 20 people in every class. The reality is we haven’t had that in a long time and we don’t have the resources to sustain that.

“Our goal is to remain as efficient as possible while keeping with providing the best possible liberal arts education to our students.”

Posted by Scotty Thompson on Apr 9 2010. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry