The findings from this study point to ‘’class size as a major factoraffecting note reading and writing loads in online classes’ (Qiu, Hewitt & Brett, 2012).
It is evident from this article that the class size really matters a great deal when it comes to the learning of the students in their classes. A class size is important as the students need to be really very attentive in a class. They also need to get the proper peer to peer connection. However, this is not possible in a class that is too densely populated or too thinly populated. In other words, a class size of 18 or 20 is overpopulated where the students cannot really understand the courses that are being taught by the teachers. They feel that the class is overloaded and they really find it tough to read the notes or even to collect the dictations. Even the instructors may often find it very tough to deal with so, many students at the same time. It is for this reason that many of the students and the teachers are trying to switch over to the online classes or at least try and use the modern means of communication like the audio and the visual devices or the multimedia technologies may often be good for the large size groups. Hence, the minimum size for the classes must be 13 to 14. This will be good for both the teachers and the students (Soni & Nair, 2016).
“In face-to-face courses, students learn by attending class, listening to the instructor’s lectures and participating in discussions with classmates’’” (Qiu, Hewitt & Brett, 2012)
The face to face class is also a good practice of teaching the students and this traditional teaching method is still favored by many of the instructors over the online teachings. They believe that students learn the best when they are interacting with their teachers and rest of their classmate's face to face. They feel that there can be many issues in case of the online teaching system. In case of the online teaching, the students can express their ideas freely on a stronger platform. Some of the teachers, however, believe in dividing the students into many subgroups so that they can learn in a more interactive and productive way. This will also help in reducing their workload.
“Studies of class size for online courses should examine the optimum class size for quality education” (Qiu, Hewitt & Brett, 2012).
Precautions have To be taken even of the instructors are going on for the online teaching system. The teachers have to make many strategies so that they can inform the students regarding the curriculum and the procedures in which they can carry on their online learning classes. Methods like the pre-distribution of rubrics can be used. The class size must be manageable so that each student can reach to the instructors easily with their queries and there must be no online traffic or any problems in the online platforms (Price et al., 2016)
References
Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. M. (2016). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. John Wiley & Sons.
Price, J. M., Whitlatch, J., Maier, C. J., Burdi, M., & Peacock, J. (2016). Improving online teaching by using established best classroom teaching practices. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 47(5), 222-227.
Qiu, M., Hewitt, J., & Brett, C. (2012). Online class size, note reading, note writing and collaborative discourse. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 7(3), 423-442., doi:10.1007/s1412-012-9151-2
Soni, R. B., & Nair, S. (2016). Research Article Importance Of Audio-Visual Aids For Teaching Large Class.
