Teaching large classes in an increasingly internationalising higher education environment: pedagogical, quality and equity issues

Marketisation, increased student mobility, the massification of Higher Education (HE) and stagnating staff numbers in universities have combined to cause a ripple effect of change both in the demography and size of university classes across the world. This has implications for the quality and equity of learning and the need to examine and to transform pedagogical practices. Despite the growing attention of literature on teaching large classes, there is a scarcity of research addressing the twin issues of large classes in an increasingly internationalised context. This paper seeks to contribute towards filling this gap. The paper provides a theoretical exploration of the causes of such classes in HE, reviews the empirical evidence against large class teaching and examines the difficulties associated with teaching demographically diverse classes in HE. The paper identifies eight pedagogical strategies to address the issues of class size and diversity, which relate to increasing student participation and engagement; increasing curricula access and the language of instruction; increasing staff intercultural understanding; increasing opportunities for deep learning for all; on-going monitoring of student satisfaction; increasing opportunities to achieve; diversification of assessment; and the merit of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS). It calls for new research on global learning cultures; reviews of global assessment and promising pedagogical practices and processes.

[1]  J. Douglass The Dynamics of Massification and Differentiation: A Comparative Look at Higher Education Systems in the United Kingdom and California , 2005 .

[2]  M. Molesworth,et al.  The Marketisation of Higher Education and the Student as Consumer , 2011 .

[3]  Doris A. Christopher,et al.  Interactive Large Classes: The Dynamics Of Teacher/Student Interaction , 2011 .

[4]  M. Jennings In Defense of the Sage on the Stage: Escaping from the “Sorcery” of Learning Styles and Helping Students Learn How to Learn , 2012 .

[5]  Jane Knight,et al.  Internationalization: Concepts, Complexities and Challenges , 2007 .

[6]  Elizabeth J. Whitt,et al.  Student Success in College: Creating Conditions That Matter , 2012 .

[7]  Munyaradzi Hwami Understanding the Crisis in Higher Education in Zimbabwe , 2011 .

[8]  Walter G. Secada Agenda setting, enlightened self‐interest, and equity in mathematics education , 1989 .

[9]  John C. Bean,et al.  Engaging Ideas: The Professor's Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom , 2011 .

[10]  Jane Hemsley-Brown,et al.  ‘The best education in the world’: reality, repetition or cliché? International students' reasons for choosing an English university , 2012 .

[11]  Joelle Vandermensbrugghe The Unbearable Vagueness of Critical Thinking in the Context of the Anglo-Saxonisation of Education , 2004 .

[12]  D. Watkins,et al.  The role of repetition in the processes of memorising and understanding: a comparison of the views of German and Chinese secondary school students in Hong Kong. , 2000, The British journal of educational psychology.

[13]  J. Penner Why many college teachers cannot lecture: How to avoid communication breakdown in the classroom , 1984 .

[14]  J. Ogbu Minority Education and Caste: The American System in Cross-Cultural Perspective. , 1978 .

[15]  J. Banks Chapter 1: Multicultural Education: Historical Development, Dimensions, and Practice , 1993 .

[16]  Geert Hofstede,et al.  Problems remain, but theories will change: The universal and the specific in 21st-century global management , 1999 .

[17]  Sonia Livingstone,et al.  A Review of the Research Literature , 2002 .

[18]  J. Daniel,et al.  Making Sense of MOOCs : Musings in a Maze of Myth , Paradox and Possibility Author : , 2013 .

[19]  Aída Walqui,et al.  Instruction for diverse groups of english language learners , 2012 .

[20]  Mutambara Julia,et al.  An Analysis of the Factors Affecting Students’ Adjustment at a University in Zimbabwe , 2012 .

[21]  W. McKeachie Class Size, Large Classes, and Multiple Sections. , 1980 .

[22]  Noel J. Entitle Understanding Academic Performance at University: A Research Retrospective , 2008 .

[23]  Philip G. Altbach,et al.  Peripheries and centers: research universities in developing countries , 2009 .

[24]  Robert D. Abbott,et al.  Students' perceptions of large classes , 1987 .

[25]  A. Calderon,et al.  Institutional Research in the Future: Challenges Within Higher Education and the Need for Excellence in Professional Practice , 2013 .

[26]  Michael B. Paulsen,et al.  Teaching and Learning in the College Classroom , 1998 .

[27]  M. Rostan,et al.  Questioning Excellence in Higher Education , 2011 .

[28]  M. Wittrock Handbook of research on teaching , 1986 .

[29]  Edward Sallis Total Quality Management in Education. Second Edition. , 1996 .

[30]  Noel Entwistle,et al.  Styles of learning and approaches to studying in higher education , 2001 .

[31]  Raymond P. Perry,et al.  The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: An Evidence-Based Perspective , 2007 .

[32]  Li Yuan,et al.  MOOCs and open education: Implications for higher education , 2013 .

[33]  N. Foskett,et al.  Emerging internationalisation models in an uneven global terrain: findings from a global survey , 2013 .

[34]  Ronald G. Ehrenberg,et al.  Class Size and Student Achievement , 2001, Psychological science in the public interest : a journal of the American Psychological Society.

[35]  Elisa Carbone,et al.  Students Behaving Badly in Large Classes , 1999 .

[36]  Elaine K. Horwitz,et al.  Foreign and second language anxiety , 2010, Language Teaching.

[37]  Kyriakos Pierrakakis The sustainable growth paradigm : implications for technology and policy , 2009 .

[38]  J. Banks Chapter 1: Multicultural Education: Historical Development, Dimensions, and Practice , 1993 .

[39]  Roger C. Brown,et al.  Everything for Sale? : The marketisation of UK higher education 1980-2012 , 2012 .

[40]  Karl A. Smith,et al.  Strategies for energizing large classes : from small groups to learning communities , 2000 .

[41]  Maryellen Weimer Improving your classroom teaching , 1993 .

[42]  H. Marsh Students’ Evaluations of University Teaching: Dimensionality, Reliability, Validity, Potential Biases and Usefulness , 1984 .

[43]  R. Beard,et al.  Teaching and Learning in Higher Education , 1972 .

[44]  Qing Gu,et al.  Learning and growing in a ‘foreign’ context: intercultural experiences of international students , 2010 .

[45]  Malcolm Tight,et al.  Research into higher education: an a‐theoretical community of practice? , 2004 .

[46]  James C. McCorskey,et al.  Classroom seating arrangements: Instructional communication theory versus student preferences , 1978 .

[47]  Christine A. Stanley,et al.  Engaging Large Classes: Strategies and Techniques for College Faculty , 2001 .

[48]  S. Schwartz,et al.  Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition , 1987 .

[49]  Joseph B. Cuseo The Empirical Case against Large Class Size: Adverse Effects on the Teaching, Learning, and Retention of First-Year Students. , 2007 .

[50]  Wilbert J. McKeachie Teaching and Learning in the College Classroom. A Review of the Research Literature (1986) and November 1987 Supplement. , 1987 .

[51]  Phil Race,et al.  500 Tips on Assessment , 1996 .

[52]  Felix Maringe,et al.  Stigma, tensions, and apprehension: The academic writing experience of international students , 2015 .

[53]  Ernest T. Pascarella,et al.  How college affects students , 1991 .

[54]  J. Ogbu,et al.  Understanding Cultural Diversity and Learning , 1992 .

[55]  E. Sallis Total Quality Management in Education , 1996 .

[56]  Joseph Sung-Yul Park,et al.  Markets of English: Linguistic Capital and Language Policy in a Globalizing World , 2012 .

[57]  A. Astin What Matters In College , 1993 .

[58]  C. Soudien,et al.  Discourses of Exclusion and Inclusion in the South: Limits and Possibilities , 2003 .

[59]  John Biggs,et al.  What the student does: teaching for enhanced learning , 1999 .

[60]  Juliana Peixoto Batista General Agreement on Trade in Services , 2012 .

[61]  Elisa Carbone,et al.  Teaching Large Classes: Unpacking the Problem and Responding Creatively , 1998 .

[62]  James L. Cooper,et al.  The argument for making large classes seems small , 2000, New Directions for Teaching and Learning.

[63]  D. Sluijsmans,et al.  The use of self-, peer and co-assessment in higher education: A review , 1999 .

[64]  F. Maringe Leading learning: enhancing the learning experience of university students through anxiety auditing , 2010 .

[65]  Claudia Nieto,et al.  Cultural Competence , 2010 .

[66]  E. Stones STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TO THE SIZE OF TEACHING GROUPS∗ , 1969 .

[67]  R. K. Johnson,et al.  Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Language Learning Outcomes , 1996 .

[68]  R. Light,et al.  Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds , 2001 .

[69]  K. Arrow Higher education as a filter , 1973 .

[70]  R. Oliver Engaging first year students using a Web-supported inquiry-based learning setting , 2008 .