Get Your Students Hired
From my long experience, an optimal student-instructor ratio is about 20:1. My reason for this belief is that while it is crucial students have enough colleagues to engage with, especially in threaded discussions, when there are more than about 20 students, those discussions can be overwhelming, both for students and instructors.
Lori,
Since you teach both online and traditional do you see a ratio difference between your online and traditional classroom? Do you find you can accommodate more or less students in a traditional classroom with the same level of interaction?
Herbert Brown III
Pamela ,
I agree with all of your statements. The optimal number does vary based on content, level, etc. which are also tied to the criteria and factors you mention. Since most courses have some level of student to student and student to instructor discussion and interaction, many people see 15-20 as an optimal number for courses with some level of interaction. The experience of the instructor can play a role; however, for a class with high interaction there are only enough hours in a day that can be used to respond to posts, etc. so there would still be a maximum level to facilitate interactions.
Herbert Brown III
Michael,
Do you think this number could vary? Are their factors that might influence the optimal number in an online course; what might some of those be?
Herbert Brown III
I happen to teach online and in a classroom. The online environment is not for every student. The online student needs more contact with the instructor. A classroom size online of 15-20 students seems appropriate to me, but every instructor is different. I would like the 15-20 student online class, so I could give the student more individualized time if needed or wanted. Every student does not get extra help with a class size of 25 students. With a smaller class, I am able to evaluate students more often and reach out to them.
I believe the optimal online student-instructor ratio would be determined by the subject being taught. I personally do not believe there is a magic number that works for all courses.
Collaboration with the student is essential to the learning process. Some courses will require more instructor/student collaboration than others. For example, if I am teaching a course in basic ICD-9-CM where the student is learning to abstract information from an operative report and translating that information to codes for the billing process, I will need a good bit of one on one time with the student. In contrast, if I am teaching a medical terminology course which depends on the student memorizing word parts, it will not take as much one on one time with the student. Pretty much just helping them with techniques for learning.
Wouldn't you also believe the amount of experience an instructor has would play largely into how many students he/she could effectively teach?
Pam
Herbert,
The optimal amount of students should remain at no more than 15, in an online environment with this number, you should always have someone engaging in conversation and it also provides a strong number to respond to. Student (not all) usually like the attention and to know that their input, suggestion, comments or remarks are addressed by the instructor and personalized. Like Goldie Locks and the three bears, it has to be just right to work for both the instructor and the student.
Michael
I personally feel a class of 15-20 is manageable is all aspects. My schools maximum is 25 students and of course from business and profits aspects they are going to make sure that each section is to full capacity.
I have noticed that when I have had smaller class of 15 it more manageable and I truly find the students get the best out of the class especially where I teach the core coding classes and the content is very intense and packed in a 5 week course.
I also find that I am able to reach out to the struggling ones more efficiently and have a better pass rate.
Robert,
I agree that it is not the same for everyone or every course. However, I would be concerned about anyone that says they can handle many more students online than in the traditional classroom. It depends on the quality of the instruction. Quality online courses with appropriate interaction with students, etc. takes reasonable ratios, not 200:1 like some would suggest.
Herbert Brown III
I have wanted to teach online for some time. My last institution was supposed to begin online classes and it did not happen. I am sill very interested in teaching online and would like to develop online courses. These are some of the reasons that I have elected to take the courses regarding online teaching. With that said, I have heard from many online instructors that they can take a larger number of students online than they can in the classroom. From what I understand, if the instructor is available to answer questions and is very responsive it makes the course much easier for learners. Like anything in academics, it really depends on the course and its outline as to what a good student:instructor ratio is. I do not believe that the ratio is the same for every course.
Christopher,
This is the ratio that most people report 15-20:1 As you also mention it can vary based on a number of criteria including level and type of material/assignments. Writing courses should also have lower ratios.
Herbert Brown III
It really depends on the class (100 level versus a 400 level) but ideally I would say 15:1 is an ideal average ratio of online students to instructor. It would allow the instructor to give individualized attention, if needed, without taking away their time from performing other responsibilities.
Michael,
I have also found the type of content and level of content will greatly influence this ratio as well. For example, writing courses require a lot more interaction with students, lengthy grading and feedback, and more. So many factors can influence the ideal ratio, unfortunately many times it is set by administrators based on the money that can be made.
Herbert Brown III
Stephen,
So we begin to wonder why administrators expect higher numbers in the courses and new delivery mechanisms such as MOOCs that can handle 1000's of students are considered by some to be the wave of the future. We all have to be careful to walk the fine line between making money and meeting the individual learning needs of our students (and retention).
Herbert Brown III
The optimal number is a function of time needed to adequately communicate and facilitate your student's needs with the amount of time you have available to service these functions. A load may be too large for a teacher with multiple assignments that would be easily manageable for a teacher with a single course. Administration should take this into consideration when setting course sizes and teaching assignments.
I've taught a variety of class sizes and I find that once the population exceeds 15-18, communication and cohesiveness begin to suffer. I've taught classes as large as 25 on many occasions and it really is difficult as an instructor to provide optimal attention to each student's effort in the class.
Steve
I have noticed many people are saying 15-20 people. I concur with this number. It is important to be able to interact with students and to focus on course discussions and so forth. From my experience, interactions are harder when you have more than 15 students. When I have had large classes, I felt I could not pay attention to each student as I preferred.
Students seem to “sense†they are not getting the help they need since I could not spend the time to talk one to one, post tips for assignment and so forth as I do with small classes where I can talk, email, and post at length.
I have never times my interactions with students but I feel each student needs individualized attention. For example, I usually send an email each week and ask “How are you doing?†customizing my message for each student. For example, if a student has an ill parent, I would note I hope the parent is feeling better. If a student is stressed about taking a class and working long hours, I take time to inquire how they are balancing work and home and provide time management tips. With a large class, it is difficult to keep track of these details. When a student knows you care about their success, I believe the interactions and retention is better.
I would like to first say that it may depend on the percentage of students in the course that have a strong willingness to grasp the course content, interact within the classroom with other students and the instructor on the Discussion Board, Live Chat sessions, office hours, as well as, have a strong desire to achieve a high level of success in the course. It seems to me that when this percentage is high (maybe 70% +), it doesn't matter if there are 35 students in the course.
Nevertheless, I think a student-instructor ratio of 20-25 students would be ideal for me as an online instructor. The interaction between students would be sufficient and allow me as an instructor to engage in interactions with each student via the Discussion Board and Live Chat sessions. In addition, 20-25 students would require 40 -50 assignments to grade each week and that would be less stressful even if the percentage discussed above was 50%. I would have more time to engage the other 50% and assist in the areas this group is having difficulty including writing.
Although I have not taught online for a long period of time, this is a really good question that I want to explore more.
Chander,
These are the numbers I have found as well. Depending on the course content as well, the 15-20 seems to be optimal to make sure communications, feedback, and are done in a timely manner and you as the instructor have the time to interact with the students on a personal level so they feel they are a part of the course.
Herbert Brown III
In my opinion, the level of interaction with students in online classes must exceed the traditional face-to-face classes. I feel the optimum number should be about twenty students at the undergraduate level and about fifteen at the graduate level. These numbers allow for effective interaction between students and the instructor and contribute to enhancing the quality of learning. Thanks