Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Research: Learning Intent Should Determine Online Class Size

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 10/07/19
online learning

There is no one-size-fits-all rule for figuring out how many students to enroll in an online course. However, according to a recently published research project, large classes — those with 40 or more students — are best for "foundational and factual knowledge acquisition," and smaller enrollments — 15 or fewer students — are better for courses intended "to develop higher order thinking, mastery of complex knowledge and student skill development."

As the researchers noted, "Pedagogical intent should dictate class size." For simplicity's sake, the definition of class size was expressed as "the number of students assigned to a single instructor," no matter how many teaching assistants or facilitators were involved.

The five-year research project was undertaken by a trio of current and retired faculty members from two different colleges of nursing at Kent State University and George Washington University. The big question they wanted to answer was how to calculate "the right balance between an institution's financial goals in online education courses (i.e., raising enrollment levels) and the quality of the education experience for online students."

The answer came by exploring 58 articles from 43 online education journals related to the top of establishing online class sizes.

As the report noted, smaller online classes were "consistently linked" to learning situations involving:

  • Engagement with challenging material;
  • Higher-order thinking;
  • Deeper levels of personal interactions, participation levels and connectedness;
  • Socially constructed understandings;
  • Individualized faculty feedback;
  • Writing and creative assignments;
  • Full access to faculty expertise; and
  • Positive student reviews of faculty.

Large-enrollment classes online tended to involve "basic levels of learning," that can "rely on lecture- and testing-centered" instructional practices that "emphasize content recall and demonstration of knowledge at the lower levels of Bloom's taxonomy," the report continued.

The researchers included a rubric that has been tested in their own institutions for establishing appropriate enrollment sizes, with the recommendation that universities use their "combined expertise of both administrative leaders and experienced faculty" to sort out the right class sizes.

The full report is openly available in the latest issue of the Online Learning Consortium's Online Learning journal.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Abstract polygonal hacker with laptop on technology dark background

    Cybersecurity Researchers Identify First Fully Autonomous AI-Driven Ransomware Attack

    Threat researchers at cloud security firm Sysdig have disclosed what they describe as the first documented ransomware operation carried out end-to-end by an autonomous AI agent, with no human typing commands or directing individual steps once the attack was underway.

  • CIS Sandbox Tutor Eli Blouin at Bentley University imagines a future technology learning partner that supports curiosity, critical thinking, feedback, and personalized learning.

    Student Voices: Technology as a Future Learning Partner

    A data analytics and marketing major at Bentley University and a distinguished lecturer at the university explore the future of "technology learning partners" — technologies that participate in the learning process by asking questions and giving feedback, not just information search results.

  • Silhouettes of business professionals stand against a blurred futuristic city skyline at night, with a glowing digital network data connection

    It's Time for Higher Ed to Get Serious About AI Strategy

    Without a coordinated strategy that involves multiple academic and administrative units across the entire campus, colleges risk wasting resources, duplicating efforts, and ultimately failing to deliver on the promise of deploying technology to improve learning and operations.

  • Hootsuite

    Beyond the Feed: How Higher Ed Turns Social Media Into a Measurable Enrollment Engine

    More than half of prospective students research programs on social media before visiting a university website, and nearly half will skip applying to a school that looks inactive online. Hootsuite, the all-in-one social OS platform trusted by more than 2,000 higher education institutions, helps campus teams turn everyday posts into measurable outcomes, from applications to alumni giving.