One school started with 12 as a max, but eventually changed that to 20 ! Quite a jump.
Generally, a ratio of 20:1 works in the online environment. This takes into consideration responding to discussions, grading and feedback and responding to student emails.
Anthony J Matias
Aida,
It is true that the students might be more comfortable with the content and delivery platform. What about the depth and difficulty of the content, would not the higher level students need more interaction and assistance and therefore smaller class sizes for the upper level classes?
Herbert Brown III
I also think the lower ratio for the general ed classes is more important than for the higher level classes. At the higher level students already have a strong foundation on writing, research, and working in an asynchronous environment.
I think the optimal student-instructor ratio should be 25. This would give students the opportunity to more indepth discussions and individualized teaching to those who need more practice.
Diane,
A ratio of 10:1 is great in my opinion; however, many others find they have to work in a 15:1 ratio or higher. I am aware of an institution that recently ignored much of the research and are requiring minimum ratios of 15:1 for graduate courses and 18:1 for undergraduate courses. They also expect attrition rates of only 3 students in each area, which is less than 20%. They will be surprised once they implement these policies.
Herbert Brown III
Alicia,
What would you say is your "average?" 25 students seems a little high to me, and as you note, it makes it much harder to provide regular one on one attention to students. I am having this argument with administrators at my institution right now - what is optimal, versus what it takes to "make" a class. Always a challenge.
Herbert Brown III
Our ratio is 10:1...I teach ground courses as well so my time is split. We follow Texas Workforce Commission guidelines and the ABHES requirements for load. What I am facing is that I have to spend off time to be able to keep up with posting in the forums.
Diane
In my experience as an online instructor, I have found that I am most productive, efficient and less stressed with a ratio of 20-25. Unfortunately, I usually have a lot more students than this, which makes it difficult to provide the 1:1 individualized attention I would like to provide for each student.
Elizabeth,
From a support perspective, I agree that the students need the ability to connect one on one with an instructor for help at times. What this post was really getting at was the optimal student to instructor ratio for the average online course, do you think 10 students to a class max, or 50? Are there criteria that help to determine the optimal ratio?
Herbert Brown III
1:1 Every student is on a case-per-case basis so that they feel like their is someone on the other end.
Ruben,
I would say most opinions fall within the 15-20 range. I completely agree that all of these are factors that effect the ratio and it is not a uniform number. Another category I would add is the "level" of the course. This follows with the subject matter category. Graduate courses typically require a lot more research and writing and usually have smaller ratios.
Herbert Brown III
I think that the optimal online student-instructor ratio is a variable thing. Somethings to consider:
- Subject matter - Is the subject matter best addressed through forums? If so, then forum interactions require much more instructor input. If the subject matter is addressed through learning objects which simply require that the student interacts with those objects without much input from the instructor, then there is less of a load on the instructor.
- New course vs. old course - Is this the first time the course has been offered online? New courses require an additional time component for debugging that the instructor add to the teaching load.
- Experience - Is this the first time that the instructor has taught the course online? Is this the first time the instructor has taught an online course?
I have seen some numbers about ratios online, but am unaware of any specific study on the subject. Our school limits online enrollment to 20 in a course. I don't believe that there was any logic in that decision though.
-Ruben
James,
Are there any factors that might influence this ratio? Online and face-to-face if designed well can be very different environments and put different demands on the instructor. What about the level of the content? Graduate courses versus undergraduate? Courses with extensive discussions, versus those without.
Herbert Brown III
I think the online student-instructor ratio is 20:1 same as face to face. You still want to provide the student with individual assistance to may sure the information is grasp correctly.
Thank you for your question!
I do believe that the optimal number is about 15. When you get beyond that for a course, you begin to lose the capability for the one-to-one relationships that can form over a five or eight week course.
An instructor can reach out individually if the course size if at this level. You start to get to know the students and it provides a supportive learning environment.
Janis
lance,
This has also been my experience. Even in graduate courses I prefer 10-15 as it helps with the student-student interaction. Too few and it is harder to maintain the discussions at times.
Herbert Brown III
Morgan,
That has been my experience as well. 15-20 has been about right in many of my class to have enough for quality discussions, without too many that negatively effect the logistics of the course. I would say that the content of the course, the level of students, and structure of the course do have major impacts on the ratio.
Herbert Brown III
I agree with many of the comments being made on this topic. I have personally taken and taught online courses with varying student to teacher ratios. I think the optimal ratio does vary based on the subject matter and the level of the course. At the graduate and upper level courses lower ratios seem to be optimal - 5 to 10 students, for other courses I think 15 to 25 is optimal.
-Lance
I would agree no more than 20 to 1, primarily so that the instructor has the ability for a reasonable turnaround period to address student inquiries, submitting grades, providing detailed feedback on progress, and providing prompt assistance so that some students are not falling through the cracks.
