The lower the ratio; the better. However, like everything else is the institution ready to take money out of their profits by hiring more instructors?
The less students; the better feedback! It depends on the assignments in the course and the amount of feedback to be given. I would say about 15 per class sounds good.
Amer,
I agree! There is not a one size fits all in online learning. All factors have to be taken in to consideration to build effective courses and programs.
Herbert Brown III
Well, I think it depends on the type of the course, the content being covered along with the method(s) of assessment. If it is a Science based course with a lot of auto graded quizzes, then the ratio can be high ( 20 per class), but if its an English class with weekly 10 page essays, the ratio must be less since the instructor will need more time to provide comprehensive feedbacks to students.
Marina,
Writing components are a contributing factor to the amount of administrative work in a course. Course discussions and other personal interactions are also impacted by the number of students in a course. Instructors need to be vigilant with informing administrators that are determining course enrollments of the importance of interaction with students and the amount of time it takes to do that properly in a course.
Herbert Brown III
I would agree to the ratio of 15:1 range; the 20:1 ratio I believe is already stretching. Again it depends on the course structure and how many writing assignments there are.
Marina,
Many others identify a ratio of 15:1 or 20:1 range. Too small and it is hard to get good discussions going, too large and just as you note the management and feedback in the course are difficult. Also the content (as you mention writing courses) and the level of the course have an effect on this ratio. Regardless of the actual ratio, it should be designed around providing students with the proper feedback.
Herbert Brown III
In my opinion, I would say 10 to 1. I currently teach a course with 25 and 32 students in my section. I find it highly unproductive for students as well as faculty. It is very difficult to keep up with all emails and requests from each student. Moreover, grading becomes very time consuming which results in less productive responses from an instructor, especially in a course where there is a writing component(s).
I particularly appreciate this Optimal Student Ratio topic for discussion. This session the online class that I’m currently teaching has 40 students, which I think it too many to manage effectively. I’ve been teaching online for 5 years and the ideal learning scenario comes from a class size of 20- 25 students. As an instructor I work hard to provide quality responses and suggestions to students on projects and discussions. A class this size is daunting and the discussion board threads tend to be repetitive and overall not as engaging.
Simone,
You will see this ratio vary greatly. For someone working in a completely automated online course the numbers may be very great. However for any course with discussions (and I would hope most courses would) the ratio should have a cap. I prefer a 1:15 of 18 but realistically for most this becomes more like 20-25. The more students the more difficult it can be to give personal attention to each one.
Herbert Brown III
Hi Rob,
I think it can vary depending on the course. The maximum, I would say should be 20-25 students. Courses with class sizes larger than this tend to be difficult to manage and affects the 1:1 attention given to students.
Sandra,
I believe this is certainly an area that needs more research. In my experience, 25 would be my upper cap and I would really prefer 20 to be my cap. You hit all the key elements that do effect the ratio. There is no "optimal" ratio alone without the contributing factors mentioned. I have seen online courses with 200 students and computer-graded assignments. The instructor only facilitates and answers questions as needed. There is little discussion and additional interaction. For some, that is acceptable. For those that believe there should be much more interaction in online courses (as I generally believe) then the ratio would need to be lower to provide the adequate feedback that students need. You articulated this nicely in your response.
Herbert Brown III
Student-Instructor ratio can vary based on different issues such as student age and the subject being taught (retrieved from http://schoolcountry.com/blog/post/2010/09/04/all-about-optimal-student-teacher-ratio-and-why-you-should-consider-it.aspx). Most of the classes that I teach have 25-30 students enrolled; sometimes more, sometimes less which is primarily based on student enrollment and not subject material.
I have been teaching in an online environment for 8 years and I think online classes should cap out at 25 students. I state this because in an online environment it is so important to make a connection with the student during discussion, be available for questions via email and then provide accurate and timely feedback for assignments. The more students enrolled the more difficult it is to make these individual connections. There is also more pressure for timely feedback that may get rushed in order to meet deadlines of trying to grade 30+ written assignments.
If the classroom is set up for the computer to automatically do the grading then more there could be an allowance for higher enrollment. When I taught in a traditional classroom that had 100+ students the assignments were all graded by the computer and I was only responsible for providing the weekly lecture. The ability to connect with the students was there during our face to face interaction even if students had no desire to actually speak with me as their instructor.
Another factor to consider is that in an on-line environment the instructor is almost required to be available 24/7 with the promise of responding to student emails within 24 hours which if there are 30+ students could be quite frequently unlike adjunct instructors in a typical University.
In addition, from the student’s perspective it allows them to get to know one another better when there is a lower # students which provides another connection to the class and subsequently the school.
I have researched this topic in order to find some hard evidence supporting an optimal ratio aside from my own opinion and found that most of the information is geared towards primary education. In terms of online ratios it appears as if there is not enough data collected to provide an exact answer to this question due to the many variables that are involved, although I did find one resource that stated "The baseline number of students is generally 25—30 students." Boettcher, 1999)
Boettcher, Judith. (1998, 1999). How Many Students Are Just Right in a Web Course? Retrieved from http://www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing/number.htm
Aida,
It depends on the design of the course as well. Many people will say that entry level courses might have a higher ratio like 20 or 25:1 and upper level or graduate courses might have a 15:1. This is often correlated with the "design" of the course. For example, more discussions, and in-depth analysis of information would require more effort on both the student and instructor and therefore would ideally be a smaller ratio. These types of designs are often connected with upper level or graduate course content and therefore the correlation.
Herbert Brown III
Charolette,
Do you believe there is an optimal number? What do you think that is? Are there factors that might cause that ratio to vary?
Herbert Brown III
Hi Dr. Brown
The content is relevant to the level, right? At the higher level classes, more would be required from the student. But I don't think they would need as much 1:1 as the lower level students.
Aida
Optimal Online Student-Instructor Ratio is the need to provide students with the course material need; and provide a reliable communication center to interact with students.
Charolette Brown
I believe the optimal online student-instructor ratio is dependent upon the course content and requirements. Its very easy to manage 20-25 students in an entry level course. However, a course consisting of very intense material or complex theories in a short amount of time, 10-15 students would be ideal so that the instructor can ensure interaction with each student to gain their level of comprehension.
ANTHONY,
I wonder if they did any research when they made that change to determine any positive or negative effects from that decision? I would guess probably not, as many of these decisions are based solely on the bottom line financials.
Herbert Brown III
ANTHONY,
Do you feel that a ratio of 20:1 works for all courses and levels or do you think that there are different ratios based on these and other factors? What factors might influence that ratio?
Herbert Brown III
