Get Your Students Hired
Hi Joan, we currently are moving to a 30:1 ratio; however, it is challenging trying to give feedback to that many learners on a regular basis! Tina
I think the optimal online student - instructor ratio is 30:1. It seems when you are over this amount you do not have the time to relate with the students as well. I like to interact with my students when the number is too high not much interaction takes place between the instructor and the students.
Hi Iris, I agree! One of the strategies that I have instructors use when there are many learners in the course is weaving. I have them go into the course at least three times during the week and summarize, re-direct, and otherwise ignite the discussion. This helps reduce the amount of interaction required in the discussions and instructors can focus more on their individual feedback to learners. Tina
The appropriate level of instructor to student should be dependent on the course being taught. I teach online in a research course which requires intensive and substantive replies and guideance to students on the level of their work. I have been in classes where the ratio is 1/10, 1/20, 1/29.
However, the quality of the substantive feedback does diminish unfortuantely when there are too many students to provide guided feedback which will be beneficial.
Sure I could do the cut and paste responses, but, to be meaningful and guidefull one needs a good balance of a ratio reflective of the type of course that is warranted.
I agree that it does depend on the class topic and also class level (lower division, upper division, or grad level). Ideally with courses that require a lot of written assignments that call for extensive qualitative feedback (often mapped to a specific rubric), 20 students or less to 1 instructor seems fair.
I also adjunct at a ground campus and I have 90 students in each section. To keep things manageable, a lot of the assignments are objective multiple choice as are the exams.
In each case I like to get to know my students and it's much easier to do so when the class size is smaller.
Hi Tina,
I am not sure about the reply yet as this will be my first time teaching online (it will start from 6/6). But, I think that the optimal is about 15. In that way, you can all the time interact with students, send them many emails and reply to all their emails at once. Also, you can have small-groups to do projects - 5 group with each group containing 3 students. Also, with such a small number, you can tell the students at the beginning that we are a small family and we should stick together and work together like a small family and thus that might create a sense of being together among the students and thus more interactions.
Also, with a small classroom, you can monitor all the students easily, give them a call if required, read all their projects thoroughly.
Thus, I believe a 15:1 ratio is best.
Thank You,
Srabasti Dutta
AIU Online Instructor
Hi,
In an online centered environment the student - instructor ratio is normally around 10:1. This is a good ratio because the instructor has an opportunity to work with each individual adequately without losing ground in subject matter being taught. The idea of the teacher-student ratio is to provide as much one-on-one attention as possible for each student throughout the learning process. In many on-campus classrooms an instructor may have up to 30 plus students. Resulting in a lack of attention needed for understanding of course material.
The online environment makes it possible to have a large number of students in a class, and yet allow each one to feel special if enough time on the instructor's part is dedicated to that mission. I like having several people in a class (more than 15) because it makes the discussion forums more lively and interactive. A larger number of students providing opinions will mean greater diversity and offer a wide range of opinions to be expressed.
I believe the optimal online student-instructor ratio would be 15:1. It's important that you have enough students to have productive discussion forums but not too many students so that some may be overlooked in the discussions.
Hi Robin, in my institution we have as many as 27 students in a single class. It can be challenging, but we are now considering the use of TAs to reduce the load on faculty. Tina
I have been attending classes via the Internet and has been in classes with nearly twenty (20) students for that one Instructor. These are MBA classes and I have noticed that there is never less than ten (10) students.
I have made it a point to count because I desire to one day teach on-line and needed to have an idea of how many students maybe present per class.
During my B.S.college days I noticed that depending on the class there maybe as many as twenty (20)to twenty-five (25) students in one class.
Hi Hima, I think so too. It's large enough to form groups, but small enough to manage the large number of interactions you have with individual students. Tina
I think for an online class the average student-instructor ratio should be 15:1. Having fifteen or less students in the class will help instructors manage the class better and be able to respond to student forum posts on time.
Hi Julie, I think you make an important point. If there are too many dependent learners in the course, it can take a considerable amount of time, so fewer learners is mor manageable. Tina
I think the answer to this question really depends on the knowledge level of the students and how much assistance the students will require of the instructor. For example some students may not require a lot of assistance and some students may require a great detail of assistance if the student is not familiar with online courses.
Hello Tina;
I feel when the ratio of students is too many to the one instructor; the instructor will be stretched too thin. The students will not be able to obtain the full amount of care needed to answer their questions and concerns.
To sum up, an example of 30/1 ratio will be a disadvantage to the learning experience of a number of students.
Hi Melissa, can you expand on your ideas about the ratio relating to the complexity or difficulty of the course? Tina
That is ideal number Michael for the classroom setting, however, what do feel the number of the larger class should be?
Hello Dr Stavredes
I feel the ratio of student/instructor varies on the complexity or difficulty of the course. On adverage 10/1 being one instructor to 10 to 15 student is an acceptable for each student ample assistance.
Melissa hartfield
Hi Jayasree, you can definitely create successful group assignments online. You can create separate discussions for each team to interact. I also include an Ask Your Instructor thread in each group discussion, so I can quickly see if the team has specific questions for me to answer. Tina