With the increasing demands for online classes as well as cost-cutting measures, many institutions look at raising online course caps. How might this impact learning? In our community college, there is an increasing demand not only for online courses, but for online programs. At the same time that we are struggling with quality assurance of our online educational experiences, we battle with state funding limitations. Put these two factors together and the natural questions emerge: Could focusing efforts on offering larger online classes solve our problems? How might larger online classes impact learning? We will present preliminary findings based on existing research, interviews with staff at peer colleges, surveys of division deans, and both formal and informal discussions with online faculty and staff. Data will be drawn from multiple resources including the Instructional Technology Council, blogs about online course sizes, current literature, and social networking sites. Session Goals: After the session, each participant will be able to 1. Identify important factors that should be considered when choosing caps for online courses. 2. Locate and utilize resources to further the study of online class size optimization. Presented at the Sloan Consortium International Conference on Online Learning 2012 in Orlando, FL

1. Community College Online
Class Size Optimization:
Current Research and Findings
Josh Murdock
@professorjosh
Lisa Macon Ph.D.
@lisamacon
Valencia College

2. Poll the Audience
• What do you think is the optimal class size for an online
class?
• 10
• 15
• 20
• 25
• 30
• > 30

3. Primary Sources
• Instructional Technology Council
survey March 2012.
• Our own observations as
instructional designer and faculty
member
• Conversations with colleagues at
our own and other institutions
• Focus on issues of class size and
as a secondary issue,
compensation

4. What is the ITC?
• Consortium of
community colleges
offering distance learning
courses
• Has been surveying
member institutions
since 2004

5. The Game – Tug of War
• Pressure from administration for faculty to maximize
class size to increase efficiency (profitability)
• Faculty pressure to safeguard demands on their time
as well as quality of the educational experience for
students

6. Preliminary Conclusions:
Class Size
• Ideal class size ranges from 12-30 (median of about 25)
• Numbers differ by discipline
• Introductory Math: 27 students
• Introductory English Comp: 25
• Introductory Political Science: 30
• What is your discipline?

7. Preliminary Findings :
Compensation
• The majority of institutions compensate faculty
for teaching more students than the established
cap or limit
• The majority of faculty teaching do not receive
additional compensation simply for teaching
online classes
• Course development compensation varies
greatly by institution

8. Example
• Valencia College
• Course caps set individually by campus and division
• Average = 25 (min = 20, max = 40)
• Larger courses are team taught
• Faculty may not combine sections of the same course
• In general, no compensation for development

9. Example
• Northern Virginia Community College
• Tutorial Instructional Model Approach
• 50-100 students per class with high success rate
• Learner-instructor interaction is built into content – not
contrived using discussions
• Additional interaction is optional

10. Example
• Ottawa University Online
• Maximum enrollment of 20 students per class
• Instructors are required to respond within 48 hours
• Instructors are expected to be in the course on
weekends
• Tougher schedule than ground instructors
• Small increase in compensation

11. Example
• Buffalo State Online Graduate Program
• Faculty receive a stipend to develop an online course
• Faculty spend additional hours teaching online
• Expectation that communication is not constrained by time as it is in
classroom sections

12. Example
• New Jersey Institute of Technology
• 40 to 60 students per online class
• Apply 6 “management principles”
• Information organization and retrieval
• Set and enforce guidelines
• Promote active collaboration and socialization
• Knowledge sharing
• Encourage student-to-student feedback
• Require participation

13. Conclusions
• Online classes do not
improve efficiency in
class size
• Online classes do
improve access
• Online classes do
improve efficiency of
facilities usage

14. Recommendations to Maximize
Class Size
• Faculty training
• Study models that work
• Compensation for design
• Initial investment can lead to greater efficiency
• Collaboration/consistency in scheduling

15. Questions?

16. Contact Information
• Lisa Macon, Ph.D.
• Email: Lmacon@valenciacollege.edu
• LinkedIn: Lisa (Fischer) Macon, PhD
• Twitter: @lisamacon
• Josh Murdock
• Email: jmurdock3@valenciacollege.edu
• LinkedIn: Joshua Murdock
• Twitter: @professorjosh

17. References
• 2011 Distance Education Survey Results,
Instructional Technology Council, March 2012.
• “The Upper Limit: The Issues for Faculty in Setting
Class Size in Online Courses”, Colwell and Jenks.
• “Class Size and Interaction in Online Courses”,
Orellana and Anymir.
• Sener Knowledge Online Learning Blogs