Resources

The literature reviews summarise existing research and other written materials that examine issues arising in large class teaching contexts. Taken together, the literature reviews consist of around 30 000 words. About 150 references are cited across the five reviews. All literature cited is collectively available in the List of References document. The first review, "What's different about large classes?" serves as an executive summary of the overall research findings.

In general, the literature reviews reveal that issues important in large university classes are the same issues important in classes of any size, such as being systematic and organised, motivating students, maintaining quality of learning and developing authentic assessment. However, many of these issues and challenges are magnified with large groups. Most of the research in this area suggests that larger classes lead to increased diversity and complexity. Diversity and complexity mean that, in many cases, the situation changes qualitatively. Much of the literature suggests that it is not desirable or sufficient to simply amplify what we do for smaller classes. Thus, the reviews cite many descriptive papers and case studies in the literature that identify or describe ways in which increased class size creates both problems for staff and students, as well as successful strategies in terms of managing, teaching and assessing large groups.

The following table is a summary of the various models of teaching put forth by Joyce et al (2000). Joyce et al stress the importance of adopting a multiple-models approach to teaching students with a range of skills and backgrounds. Given that large classes usually mean a wide range of student backgrounds and abilities, it would seem imperative that teachers of large classes endeavour to somehow incorporate each of the following teaching models into their courses. However, these models vary in their suitability with large groups, and whereas some methods of instruction are ideal in large lecture situations, others are virtually impossible to implement and should therefore be employed in smaller group sessions such as tutorials, laboratories and peer assisted study sessions. The following table provides an outline of the various models and comments on their suitability with varying class sizes.

Reference

Joyce, B., Weil, M. & Calhoun, E. (2000). Models of Teaching. Boston: Allyn and Bacon

Teaching Models

Some strategies for interaction created by AUT User Centre for Educational and Professional Development.

This report outlines a project conducted by Dr Virginia Slaughter examining international solutions for teaching large first year Psychology courses.

The project was motivated by a need to make changes to the structure of first year Psychology at the University of Queensland in 1998. Most of the proposed changes have since been implemented.

1.	Introduction: What's Different About Large Classes?	Download PDF document. Size: 36k
2.	Student Performance In Large Classes	Download PDF document. Size: 51k
3.	Teaching And Assessment In Large Classes	Download PDF document. Size: 82k
4.	Administration And Management Of Large Classes	Download PDF document. Size: 62k
5.	Large Classes Across Disciplines	Download PDF document. Size: 121k
6.	Policies And Trends In Higher Education	Download PDF document. Size: 44k
7.	List Of References	Download PDF document. Size: 92k