The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) sponsored this webinar, facilitated by Dr. Susan Taft of the Kent State University College of Nursing in Kent, OH. Taft co-authored “A Framework for Evaluating Class Size in Online Education” that was published in The Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 12(3), 2011, 181-197.

The bad news … there is NO one size fits all for determining optimal class sizes for online courses. The good news … there ARE guidelines for determining optimal class size.

Optimal class size is defined as healthy revenue generation PLUS desirable student learning outcomes.

Variables (factors) associated with workload in teaching online courses include:

• faculty experience with distance education
• the level at which the course is offered – graduate or undergraduate
• content to be covered and course design
• size of the class
• online platform used, and presence or absence of technology support and/or teaching assistants
• the mode of instruction (e.g. whether strictly web-based or combined with other modes of instruction)

Taft went on to review three educational frameworks that provide guidelines:

1. The Objectivist-Constructivist Continuum
2. Bloom’s Taxonomy
3. The Community of Inquiry Model

Class sizes on the objectivist-constructivist dimension:

• objectivist – largely one-way communication – can be large class size
• mix of objectivist-constructivist – medium teaching intensity – medium size 20+
• constructivist – interactive with higher teaching intensity – < 20 students

Class sizes and Bloom’s Taxonomy dimensions:

• upper levels of taxonomy – analysis, synthesis, evaluation – small class size < 15
• middle of taxonomy – application – medium teaching intensity – 16-40 students
• lower levels of taxonomy – knowledge, comprehension – lower teaching intensity – > 30+ students

The Community of Inquiry Model is the more complex of the three models. Three types of presence are recommended for online courses:

1. Teaching presence (faculty)
   1. course design & organization
   2. facilitating discourse – this may or may not be used
   3. direct instruction – may be fully or partially used
2. Cognitive presence (students) – may or may not be fully required
3. Social presence (faculty & students) – faculty being a “real person” in the online environment; may or may not be present

• With the Community of Inquiry model, partial teaching presence that is associated with lower teaching intensity can have a class size of 25+.
• With full teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence, there is higher teaching intensity and smaller class sizes of < 20 students.

Using the objectivist-constructivist continuum + Bloom’s Taxonomy leads to a more objective and quicker determination of class size. When Community Of Inquiry model is considered, the complexity of judging appropriate class size increases.

Examples of class size determinations considering combinations of all 3 frameworks:

• Use of objectivist teaching methods, lower levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, limited implementation of COI – class size can be large, > 30 students
• Constructivist methods, higher levels of Bloom, and full use of COI model – class size should be small < 15 students

For courses, determine how much the faculty member needs to be present and in the center to help students learn. Much of this determination (80%) can be discerned from the syllabus (as long as it’s a good syllabus). For the additional 20%, need to review online workload – are faculty facilitating good meaty discussions among the students, are faculty grading online discussions.

A truism – most faculty see their specific course as the highest intensity, requiring the highest workload level. In most cases, it is not true. So the administrator needs to review across all faculty. Develop guidelines for courses offered during this particular semester will have this many students allowed into them. Develop guidelines for different levels in the program. RN-BSN courses should have between 20-40 students in each section so that faculty can grade papers and give effective feedback to students.

Synchronous can add an additional level of teaching intensity – because faculty need command of the tools to make them work and because synchronous sessions tend to generate questions and issues that the faculty need to follow up on. Synchronous teaching should add in to the faculty workload.

Discussion of the Quality Matters Program – it is great for structure of a course, but it doesn’t address process and outcomes. The Sloan Consortium quality scorecard is a better model for online work, according to the presenter.

In addition to the presenter’s article (referred to above) some accessible online resources related to determining optimal class size in online education are:

• The Impact of Online Teaching on Faculty Load: Computing the Ideal Class Size for Online Courses, Lawrence Tomei, International Journal of Instructional Technology & Distance Learning, January 2004, 1(1). last accessed 2/7/13
• Class Size and Interaction in Online Courses, Anymir Orellana, The Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 2006, 7(3), pp. 229-248.  last accessed 2/7/13
• A Narrative Review of Literature Regarding Class Size in Online Instruction, Beverly Irby and Rafael Lara-Alecio. NCPEA Handbook of Online Instruction and Programs in Educational Leadership. 2012. last accessed 2/7/13

REMINDER: UTHSC is an institutional member of the Sloan Consortium, which enables faculty and staff to obtain important and relevant materials related to online education. Contact Cindy Russell for details.

For follow-up material or discussions related to this or other topics, contact Cindy Russell at crussell@uthsc.edu or 901-448-6158.