Francis ,
Well stated. I think you conveyed the reality of the situation for most online instructors. Thank you for your input.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
While I am aware that there is no right or wrong answer to this kind of a question, I do have an opinion about it. I like the ratio to be about 15 to 1. I can handle more students, but I feel like the time I can spend working with any given student is diminished. Of course, this is affected by the amount of interaction that is required by the school. I have taught in some schools where daily interaction is required and that gets challenging when your ratio is too high. You just can't get to everyone.
Alicia,
Can you share an example of determining the basis by the workload and demand of the course? I am not sure I understand the distinction between the two. Thank you for your contribution.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
It can also vary according to the situation. The basis of teacher student ratio can be determined by the work load and the demand of the course.
Dalene,
This is a good ratio and rationale for many undergrad courses. In fact, some regulatory entities are settling on this as a base ratio for undergrad, online classes. Good post. Thank you for sharing.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
I agree with Joe - the ratio of 25-1 for low level courses is a good indicator. I teach a class called Critical Thinking for a small community college, and the previous curriculum was not as robust as the one currently. I found that handling 30 students was not as challenging in the previous curriculum.
Course requirements have changed, however, and the smaller class size (25 or less) is better than having more students, for the sake of time required in responding to all discussions each week, and grading essay assignments and providing appropriate and specific feedback.
Brock,
Your explained situation and subsequent optimal ratio indicated are well presented. The pedagogical principals behind the described dynamics are also well vetted. Excellent recommendation. Thank you for your insights and contribution.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Amy,
Nice balance and rationale. Very good.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Most of my online teaching experience has been with highly technical subjects.
In these classes, it's been my consistent experience that most students will need one or two other students as foils for their own ideas, or to sit and puzzle out the precise meaning of a question or a topic. The students who are most involved in the discussion/help sessions are the ones who consistently show the most improvement regardless of their understanding coming into the course, and the ones most involved in the sessions are often or even usually the ones who are most engaged with other students. I'm not very comfortable teaching a class of less than six or so for this reason. In the kind of instruction that I do, it's useful to have a period of even puzzled thinking prior to going to the ultimate recourse--and students who puzzle together seem to be more successful than those who puzzle alone. It's also been my consistent experience that students--especially older ones who've been away from studying for a while--feel less alone when they have even one other person in the course with whom to put their head together.
I've also found that there are often students that fail to engage with other students on their own. In a small class, these students can be reliably identified and personally engaged or encouraged to engage with others. Larger classes--in terms of absolute numbers or ratio--seem to make it easy for a student to feel forgotten. That's absolutely fatal to a student's success in a distance program. I don't like handling classes larger than about 15 for that reason among others.
Personally, I think between eight and ten is reasonable. Even with ten, I worry that everyone isn't getting the kind of individualized attention that can be one of the strongest points of a small and technically challenging online program.
I think the optimal online student-instructor ratio really depends on the course and the instructor. With quality instruction, a course can be successful with 2 students as well as 20 students.
With that being said, I think the best ratio is 15-20 students per the instructor. This allows optimal discussion and participation between the students, while also allowing the instructor ample opportunity to personally respond and interact with each student a few times during the course of a week.
Kevin,
Welcome aboard as an online instructor! The smaller ratios, as you correctly identify, are more effective for the 'personalized attention' from the instructor to the student. One important dynamic to remeber is to help the students collaborate with their own pursuit of learning. The student-to-student dynamic requires enough of s class population to generate the synergy of groups, both intra-group and inter-group dynamics can be used to facilitate online learning if the required careful setup has been properly implemented.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
I would imagine that the optimal ratio would depend upon the subject matter (this will be my first time teaching an online course, so my answer can only be conjecture at this point). I will be teaching a course in audio production, and it will involve creative skills in addition to technical skills. Creative feedback is a bit more involved than simply grading quizzes and providing correct answers, and therefore requires a bit more time devoted to personalized attention. So, I think a smaller ratio would be more effective in this case, no greater than 1:10 (teacher:student). -Kevin
Deborah ,
Many instructors agree. The nature of the content can have many implications for the class dynamics.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Deborah ,
I like the 3-4 day setup you describe. It seems like a reasonable and aptly accommodating discussion format.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Amir,
Great observations, I also believe that student-instructor ratio is very dependent on course content. I have taught several healthcare statistics and find that the 10:1 ratio works best for this type of course.
Deborah Balentine
Linda,
I am an adjunct instructor for a Medical/Coding and billing class and I agree that 12-20 students is a good class sizze especially for an online environment. I supplement online class time with group teleconferences.
For discussion boards we do not have any set student to teacher criteria however, I generally respond to each student in the discussion board spreading my post throughout 3-4 days of active discussion.
Deborah Balentine
sahbaa,
Thank you for your kind words. I am very glad you have joined this class. Please let me know if I may be of any additional assistance.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
This is the first time i am taking course on line and i enjoy it too much, and it is usful.
Alicia,
Very good. The ratio may depend on multiple factors. Do you have an optimal ratio within a given situation?
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
It consist of the Ratio between the amount of online students to be taught and the instructor. It must be compatable to the amount of content and the amount of responsiblity brought forth, in order to demonstrate the ratio results.
