An Active Learning Perspective on

Class Contact Hours and Study Time

Amy Barlow Research Fellow in Learning and TeachingUniversity of Winchester

Gibbs, G. (2010). Dimensions of Quality. Higher Education Academy, UK.

THE DILEMMA IN THE UKDoes more contact mean better value?

So smaller classes?Despite UK course fees tripling in recent years, Universities are having to run with a third less income per student than they had 30 years ago….

Do more contact class hours actually lead to more learning? The answer is actually no. There is no relationship between how many hours students spend in class and how much they learn.

What matters is close contact.

EXAMINING LEARNING IN LARGE GROUPS

How is student performance affected by growing class sizes?

What are the implications for this for student satisfaction?

How are assessment and feedback procedures impacted?

Class size predicts student performance

Meta-analysis of large numbers of studies of class-size effects has shown that the more students there are in a class, the lower the level of student achievement (Glass and smith, 1978, 1979).

Large classes have negative effects not only on performance but also on the quality of student engagement: students are more likely to adopt a surface approach in a large class (lucas et al., 1996)

What is happening to the educational process?

Lower levels of participation with a minority being able to contribute

Student contributions focused on clarification rather than exploring ideas

Competition for resources is increased which in turn effects student satisfaction

Student SatisfactionUS research shows that higher education students give lower overall ratingsto teachers of large classes when compared to the same teachers working in smaller groups (wood et al., 1974; Feldman, 1984).

BUT, this could be reflection of other factors relating to large group sizes…

What happens to assessment and feedback?

- The amount and promptness of feedback on assignments is likely to decline, as teacher time is squeezed.

- The nature of assessments may change from engaging open-ended projects to quick tests, as marking otherwise takes too long.

- Close contact with teachers outside of class and access to remedial tutoring and advice may be more limited.

What does good practice look like?

Seven principles of good practice in undergraduate education Good Practice Encourages Student-Faculty ContactGood Practice Encourages Cooperation among StudentsGood Practice Encourages Active LearningGood Practice Gives Prompt FeedbackGood Practice Emphasizes Time on TaskGood Practice Communicates High ExpectationsGood Practice Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning Chickering and Gamson (1987)

Active Learning

The number of class contact hours has very little to do with educational quality, independently of what happens in those hours, what the pedagogical model is, and what the consequences are for the quantity and quality of independent study hours.

Active Learning?

WHAT DOES ACTIVE LEARNING LOOK LIKE?

Analysis of the research literature . . . suggests that students must do more than just listen: They must read, write, discuss, or be engaged in solving problems. Most important, to be actively involved, students must engage in such higher-order thinking tasks as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (Chickering and Gamson, 1987).

Tell me, I’ll forgetShow me, I’ll remember Involve me, I’ll understand

• When they experience good feedback on assignments

• When they have a clear sense of the goals of the course

• When they have a clear awareness of the standards that are intended to be achieved

When does deep learning occur?

• Experience allowed for mistakes in order to learn/ practice time with constructive feedback/ no punishment for mistakes but mistakes were used as a learning tool

• Teacher created a safe environment for students to speak-up/ we developed trust

• Student was self-reflective/ learning was self-revealing/learned things about themselves/ self discovery and self revealing

• Learner experienced great joy from the learning experience