I believe an optimal ratio is contingent to the type of course being taught and how many courses being taught by the individual instructor. Take for instance a writing course. If there are weekly assignments being turned in which the instructor must manually grade, critique and return feedback then obviously there is a greater demand of the instructor's time then a course designed based on forum interaction, quiz and exam scores. With an average of 20 - 25 students manual grading/critiquing can take a full day to grade a courses assignments. In this instance that would be an optimal number, as long as the instructor is limited to 4 or 5 courses at any one time.
In my optimal online classroom, 15 - 18 students seems to be the magic number, depending on the class topic. Most of my classes involve a lot of both synchronous and asynchronous student interaction, and a class that is too small doesn't provide enough opportunity for unique perspective and peer critique. On the other hand, large classes, say over 24, often restricts me from providing the level of direction, feedback and interaction I feel each student requires and deserves.
I would argue that beyond a ceiling of say 30 students, there is no optimal ratio. The real question is one of time. If I have the time to respond to students individually, engaging them in a back and forth, plus being able to substantially grade their material, then having between 20-30 students is not a problem.
The challenge comes when we as educators 'run out of time in our day' and then we may feel stress that we cannot get all our work completed. To that end, the question seems to be whether we feel as though we have the appropriate amount of time to attend to the needs of our students. For me 25 is no problem and it allows for substantial back and forth between myself and between the students.
Scott Racek
I would say 15-to-one. From my experience this is a manageable number for the instructor, plus it gives the instructor enough students to have meaningful discussions. With a class this size, the instructor should be able to manage grading, creating new assignments, moderating discussions, and solving technical problems. Any bigger and these tasks become complicated. Conversely, if the class was any smaller, there aren't enough students for group projects or online forum discussions.
Jane,
You are absolutely correct. The format of the course, the content of the course all determine the ratio for the course. I also teach writing intensive courses and I keep them in the same range you mention.
Herbert Brown III
Yes that is a great idea! I love when students learn from one another, and I always encourage it. I even learn from them sometimes!
Example: one of my forum discussions has to do with making a list of sound effects an artist would make in a studio. That one is always fun to read- such creative ideas! They feed off each other- "I didn't think of that, great idea!" Or "I bet you could also try this to get the same sound!"
I understand where you are coming from Keith! I prefer the smaller classes because I can take more time with each student, and leave even more feedback than usual. 15 students per class does sound good.
I think the optimal online student instructor ratio is 1:15-20. The reason for the cap on the top number has to do with grading assignments. In many of the courses I teach, grading is almost exclusively determined by written papers and forum discussions. In order to effectively grade such assignments in a way that makes sense to students, is fair, is reliable, and actually helps your students to learn something after reading your assessment, it takes a good deal of time...so any more than 20 students would be exhausting! For classes that are graded via online quizzes, I would estimate that I could handle 40 students and still influence them all in some positive way.
Anthony,
You also cannot sometimes get a good discussion dynamic with small numbers of students. Your ideals are also my ideals. However, my institution, as with most, is driven by the bottom line so they want at least 18 or more in a course.
Herbert Brown III
My ideal is somewhere around 10-15. This gives me the time to give each student sufficient and detailed feedback on their projects. I have taught online courses with around 30 students, and find that it is a bit overwhelming to give each of these students the time and attention I feel that they each need.Personally, 20 would be my preferred maximum number of students. I have also taught course with 10 or less students. Even though, I think the students received more extensive feedback on their projects, I can understand that this is not cost effective for the institution.
The ratio of students to instructor varies with the level of the course being taught, the subject matter, and the expectations of the course. As an example, undergrad lower level and upper level courses can have higher and lower ratios respectively. Again, graduate courses should be correspondingly lower students per instructor. In graduate courses I have had 10-25 students, in undergrad I have had 10-60 students in online courses.
Lisa,
I agree and I believe research has shown that the smaller personal classes either online or traditional are typically more effective. However, economics comes in to play and you see online courses with 200-300 in a class. We also now have MOOCs that are changing the learning landscape. It will be interesting to see what the research has to say about the effectiveness of MOOCs.
Herbert Brown III
It depends on the course being taught. In medical coding a smaller class is ideal as many students need extra time and attention when it comes to comprehending. Ideally, a class of 10-15 would be great, however the average number of students has be 20-25. Other resource methods would have to be considered like Webex, more chats, office hours and the like.
I think it depends on the course. I teach Sociology and our discussions are much richer in classes where there are at least 15 students. For me, 20 would be ideal in a general course. Upper division courses run differently and so I find smaller groups easier to work with. I like to get students invested in each other's ideas and research projects.
I've had in-person courses run as large as 300 students. I have to say, I think the students get much more out of a smaller on-line course than they do in a large in-person one!
Lisa,
Can you elaborate on what you believe the ideal ratio is? Is it 35 students to 1 instructor? What are some factors that might influence that ratio?
Herbert Brown III
The amount of students an instructor can successfully manage so students succeed in the course.
cynthia,
Do you think there are any specific factors that might affect the optimal size of the course, or do you suggest that 20-30 would be optimal for any course?
Herbert Brown III
You don't want your class too small or over 40 students, optimal ratio should be 20-30- students for online classses.
Keith,
What do you think would be ideal? Too few and you can't always get a good discussion dynamic, too many and it is hard to give them all personal feedback. Admin. is driven by the bottom line $$$, what they determine is not always the optimal "teaching" number.
Herbert Brown III
Keith,
I would agree that these can be considerations in determining ratio. I would also suggest that the content and level of the course content might be contributing factors.
Herbert Brown III
