2.1 A narrative review of literature regarding class size in online  (Page 2/11)

Introduction

Class size long has been a topic of discussion in terms of learning and, more recently, in terms of budget in public school settings. According to the National Center of Education Statistics (2011), in 1970, the student/teacher ratio was 22.3. However, in 1985 it declined to 17.9 students per teacher and continued to decline reaching 17.3 students per teacher in 1995, 16.0 in 2000, and 15.8 in 2008. In 2007-2008, for public elementary schools, the numbers stood at 20.0 students per teacher and for public secondary schools, the student/teacher ratio was 23.4 /1. In 2010, there were an estimated 15.6 students per teacher in the U.S. public schools. If that estimate is correct, then on average in the United States, public school students should be making fair progress, because, according to Brewer, Krop, Gill, and Reichardt (1999), average class sizes in traditional classrooms of 15 produces significant improvement in student achievement. However, this level of student/teacher ratio reduction may not last if the Elementary and Secondary Education Act proposal passes which includes a 10% rather than the current 38% of Title II allocations to class-size reductions (Sawchuk, 2012). In fact, class size in public schools of late has been inexorably related to funding. For example, Sparks (2010) indicated that 19 states had allowed class size increases since 2008’s economic slump. Even though class sizes in public schools have risen over the past 4 years, there is an assumption that smaller classes provide better learning environments (Kerr, 2011), but finding empirical evidence for this assumption is more challenging.

The problem with research on online class size

To date, much of the class size debate and research has occurred in the elementary and secondary school settings (Achilles, 1999; Krueger, 2000). Few researchers have assessed the impact of class size on the learning experience and outcomes in higher education, much less have they done so in terms of online courses. With little information, there continue to be questions from faculty members related to their online sections and numbers of students taught in them.

In 2003, Wallace conducted a review of online education and suggested in his conclusions that class size be considered in future research, but that has not seemed to be a focus in much of the research since Wallace’s conclusion. In most studies reviewed, such as the one conducted by Kim and Bonk (2006), topics studied have included those such as support structures, technical competency of the professors, marketing, management systems, and/or pedagogy online. Those topics frequently are covered in professional development sessions on campuses or at technology and discipline-specific conferences. However, when we attend professional conferences and/or discuss this issue in formal and informal meetings at our own universities, faculty members, as well as administrators, ask for another topic which is related to the optimum number of students for online sections.