EDITORIAL – Colleges reform large lecture courses

For many college students, the decision of whether or not to attend a large lecture course… For many college students, the decision of whether or not to attend a large lecture course with more than 400 students is usually a simple one.

Go, and it is likely that you will be bored out of your mind or have difficulty learning the material.

Don’t go, and the professor will neither notice you’re gone nor miss you.

But on campuses across the country, these classes are starting to change for the better.

Recent research shows that large classes are not preparing students for the professional world, as reported by the Associated Press.

So universities are reducing class sizes and encouraging professors to adopt innovative and animated teaching styles to keep students interested or, at least, awake.

Depending on the kind of college student you are, large lecture classes can either be a blessing or a curse.

There are those of us who have had successful large classes in which we’ve learned a lot and that we even looked forward to.

In these cases, the classes were most likely successful because the professors were captivating and able to keep us engrossed or because the subject matter was interesting. This is a sign that many of these monstrous classes can be effective if done right.

However, the problems with these classes are plenty. Students tend to zone out, especially when lecturers do nothing more than read off of PowerPoint slides.

Because each student learns at a different rate, large lectures can either move too slow or too fast.

Also, many students are fearful about speaking up in large classes if they happen to have a question about the lecture and opt to keep quiet.

Recitations also have the potential to be unaccommodating, if the professor and the recitation TA do not have similar teaching styles.

So, colleges are acknowledging these problems in various ways.

For example, Pitt is one of 700 colleges across the nation that uses “clickers.”

Professors can ask students questions in the middle of lecture, and these handheld voting tools allow the students to respond.

This enables professors to gauge how many students are grasping the material and whether or not the class needs to spend more time on it.

By answering the professor’s questions, students can earn participation points and be more actively engaged in the lecture.

If students are scared to speak up in front of 400 people, the “clickers” allow them to participate and inform the teacher that they are having trouble. It is tempting to skip large classes, but the “clickers” are a good motivating tool to get students to attend class.

It is true that these changes are no substitute for the one-on-one conversations and discussions that usually take place in smaller classes.

However, large lecture classes are not going to disappear. They’re here to stay. The best thing colleges can do is to try and improve them.