Endangered: large university lecture hall classes | EdSource

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For thirty years, Professor Alex Filippenko of the University of California at Berkeley has taught his popular "Introduction to General Astronomy" course in Wheeler Hall, with a maximum of 730 students. During the lecture, he spun the donut onto a rope to demonstrate orbital gravity and showed awesome images of distant galaxies and the expanding universe.

The recently completed spring semester is different.

Long recorded his speech and provided it online, without attending in person. But with the pandemic, he and almost all faculty and staff in American higher education have completely transferred their courses online. Even if the campus reopens in the fall, a large class like him might be considered highly contagious.

However, in addition to direct health issues, universities may permanently withdraw from large lecture hall courses for other reasons

Some experts say it is time to abandon or reform many of these courses to improve student learning and contact with teachers. Critics say that even if some well-respected lecturers like Filippenko can teach difficult concepts in interesting ways, many other teachers cannot.

Universities across the country are facing conflicting pressure and uncertainty:

With online content, people can predict the end of the giant lecture hall, thus ending the year synonymous with college freshmen. Or will the desire for a face-to-face community (even in large classes) prevail over technology? Speaking of all economic factors, will the financial efficiency of packing more students into a lobby during the recession be more necessary, especially if students are unwilling to pay full tuition for online courses in their bedrooms?

In universities in California and across the United States, even if the campus reopens, it is unlikely that more than 50 lectures will be offered in the traditional format in the fall. The combination of some online lectures and some small face-to-face discussion groups is likely to appear in the fall, and more importantly, there may be a longer future.

Filippenko, who has won the UC Teaching Award, is ready to continue teaching online when needed, but is worried that students will fail. He said: "I think that students in the lecture hall can bring real benefits." Even in the auditorium, students "can be with the professor in real time and have the opportunity to ask questions." He often raises the color Cards to encourage students to vote on scientific questions. He even asked them to debate astronomy topics with their peers.

However, after the pandemic, he and other professors who have a tradition of large lecture halls said they were open to possible long-term changes.

Sherri Hughes, assistant vice president of professional learning at the American Board of Education, a well-known higher education institution, said that the time for reform is now ripe. Although some star professors are energetic lecturers, research shows that a one-hour formal lecture in a very large classroom may be "a very poor learning experience for most students." She said that the changes caused by the pandemic are "universities and colleges that think this teaching method does not work well, and an opportunity to think about other methods."

The alternative might be some kind of hybrid course, combining online lectures or learning materials with more interactive face-to-face classes (20 to 30). (Many large-scale UC lecture courses, such as Philippenke's astronomy course, already include such a small weekly discussion section hosted by graduate students, Hughes said, but these methods are not widespread nationwide.) She added, Instead of traditional one-hour lectures, the production and distribution of online materials can be carried out in a short period of time (10-15 minutes each time) to attract the attention of students. Technology can add personal touch through online chat groups, virtual office hours and other projects.

Hughes pointed out that obstacles to change still exist. The campus wants to make full use of the existing facilities, and those large lecture halls cannot easily be broken down into smaller spaces. In addition, it is also cheaper for universities to allocate one faculty member to hundreds of students with high tuition fees. For introductory courses such as Introduction to Chemistry, Biology, Psychology or Economics, this is especially meaningful.

Such a large lecture hall course has a powerful influence on the memory of alumni and popular culture. It is usually portrayed in movies and TV as a place to inspire academic performance or sleep in boring meetings.

Despite the cultural touchpoints, the reality is at least quite different in California's public system. Large lecture hall courses are only a small part of the courses offered by California State University (CSU) and California University (UC).

Many of Colorado State University’s 23 campuses have classrooms with fewer than 50 seats. According to the system's spokesperson, of the 2794 CSU classrooms in the latest system list, only 133 can accommodate more than 100 students, and only 3 seats can accommodate more than 300 students. According to a 2018 survey, most of UC’s nine university campuses reported that 15% or less of their classrooms can accommodate more than 100 people, and only about 2% of classrooms can accommodate more than 300 students.

For example, according to data from the University of California, Berkeley, only 11% of undergraduate programs enroll more than 100 students, while only about 2% of universities enroll more than 300 students. The school reported that at Colorado State University-Northridge, only 5% of classes enrolled 86 or more students, while only 121% of classes increased by 3%.

According to former President Kristen A. Renn (Kristen A. Renn), the drawbacks of very large impersonal people are obvious.

(ASHE). A good lecturer can lead a large and fascinating course, but not all professors can. As a result, “students tend to feel lost and feel that they don’t belong to themselves,” said Rene, associate dean of undergraduate students for successful studies at Michigan State University. Rehn said: "It is not impossible to create a pleasant environment in a huge hall, but it is more difficult to convey this environment in a larger space."

She added that Covid-19 will not "kill large speech classes in higher education." California campuses trying to adapt to population growth require them to process admissions applications. After the pandemic, many students will be “eager to return to real-life campuses and classes so much that they might not mind attending large classes.” She said, but others, especially those with limited schedules, have already Began to like online learning, and is willing to continue learning such courses at least partially.

Some universities are redesigning large lecture halls instead of killing them.

Although the classrooms are still large, some rooms are being rebuilt to encourage more participation and flexibility. Instead of fixed auditorium chairs, rolling tables and chairs can be used for group projects and discussions. Even more striking is the Oregon State University

Since opening five years ago, the auditorium with a wrap-around display and high-tech podium has become an acclaimed model.

University of California Riverside Sub-Correction is under construction

As part of the new classroom. Kenneth Berenclaw, vice president of the University of California, Riverside, said that the TED-Talk environment may allow professors to move around and may not attract all professors and students, but many people support it. He added that in different teaching environments, the hall will provide another option. He said that the University of California at Riverside has 13 rooms that can accommodate 100 to 200 students, and there are 9 larger rooms, the largest of which are 570 and 416.

Baerenklau said that the new hall was designed to reduce the large physical distance in the traditional auditorium, and he taught more than 200 economics courses. "I think that when you can't fully recognize someone's face from a distance, both teachers and students feel less engaged."

Matthew Cahn, interim vice president of Colorado State University-Northridge, said the pandemic and its aftermath may intensify discussions about "what is the best (class) size and what is best for students." The Covid-19 crisis is creating an opportunity to "keep the state we feel good about, make students feel that we are doing well, and may even leave behind some things we did not well."

He said that although budget constraints mean that all large face-to-face classes will not disappear, these classes may add more technical aids, such as mobile apps that allow in-class polls and other exercises. He predicts that there will be more content that will increase online lectures and materials that do not require on-site attendance.

"We don't yet know what it will be like," Kahn said. But he said that the university "will become a completely different place in ten years."

At the University of California, Berkeley, Varsha Sarveshwar, a recent political science graduate, took five lower-level courses, with at least 100 students, and sometimes more than 500 students, including Filippenko’s astronomy course and the former US Secretary of Labor Robert A course on wealth and poverty taught by Robert Reich. The Bill Clinton Administration. Saveshwar was still the system-wide chairman of the University of California Student Association throughout the summer. He said that the large class size "never bothered me in particular", partly because graduate students had small discussions every week.

The survey showed that students did not learn much in the online courses that they were suddenly forced to take this spring. Many people say that they want to revisit face-to-face courses, even large-scale courses. However, Sarveshwar said that she understands that some students may “feel overwhelmed” in large classes and perform better when combined with online and small classes.

Philip Penke, a professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, said that he is fully willing to add more online elements to the full restoration of introductory courses.

He said: "These are interesting questions, worth pondering."

If lectures in large classes are still prohibited in the fall, he plans to allow students to watch the recordings that started last year, and use the online real-time lecture time to obtain more information and updates, and to ask more questions. He said that this model may continue to appear face-to-face after large groups can meet again safely. The goal should not be to "destroy large lecture classes," but to make better use of professors' time and provide better education for students.

We welcome your comments. For civility, relevance and other considerations, all reviews are reviewed.

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Think outside the (big) box. Most very large classes like this are accompanied by labs or discussion meetings, which meet in (many) smaller groups and are led by TAs. In the process of teaching online lectures, letting the professors take turns to learn this knowledge will be a net win.

It is not that bad. This is actually a blessing. This technology

blessing. The online course option will open up more opportunities for everyone and give them the opportunity to realize their dreams.

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