Massification in higher education: large classes and student learning

From Inky Pinky Ponky to Improving Student Understanding in Assessment: Exploring the Value of Supplemental Instruction in a Large First-Year Class

“…Having said this, with the enrolment numbers increasing, and limited resources, classes are increasingly becoming larger (Ehrenberg, Brewer, Gamoran & Willms, 2001). This is often associated with lower student performance (Hornsby & Osman, 2014). However, student learning is not necessarily determined by the class size, but rather by the skills and expertise of the lecturer as well as by the use of the appropriate teaching approaches and active participation of students (Mulryan-Kyne, 2010).…”

“…Although large classes can pose a number of challenges, with innovative teaching methods it is possible to overcome these challenges and literature on large class pedagogy in higher education is increasing (Hornsby & Osman, 2014). Large classes are not necessarily "bad", since the diversity and energy can be used to incorporate interactive class activities and offer a high-quality learning experience, as long as the strengths and limitations are well understood (Jawitz, 2013).…”

“…The South African Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) aims to improve quality in universities, and the White Paper for Post-School Education and Training published in 2013 indicated the envisaged increase of enrolment numbers from 17.3% to 25% (DHET, 2013). However, at the same time, funding is reduced, leading to an increase in the number of large classes, possibly negatively influencing the quality of education (Hornsby, Osman & De Matos-Ala, 2013;Hornsby & Osman, 2014).…”

University Pedagogy: A New Culture is Emerging in Greek Higher Education

“…Accordingly, Prosser and Trigwell (2014) in their analysis argue that students are "more likely to adopt surface approaches to study if their teachers are adopting less of a conceptual change and a less student-focused approach to teaching" (p.791). Hornsby and Osman (2014) point out that the teacher-focused learning model leads to information transmission whereas a conceptual change towards a student-focused model should be adopted when it comes to "challenging students to think deeply, critically and creatively" (p. 716). Kivunja (2015) adds that the incorporation of technology in modern learning approaches is necessary and argues that selected social media technologies, if properly planned and implemented, could act ccomplementarily to pedagogical practices, because they support learning activities and the overall academic outcomes, such as high participation, interpersonal interactions among participants, metacognitive skills, peer mentoring, motivation and considerable student engagement.…”

Impact of Class Size on Student Success in a Multidisciplinary Honors Program

“…Hornsby and Osman (2014) explain that large classes are mainly problematic when critical thinking and problem solving are the desired learning outcomes. 5 Professors can combat problems with large class sizes by finding teaching strategies that allow for more interactive learning. However, there are clearly constraints with teachers' ability to interact with and accurately assess large quantities of students.…”