In 1970, education theorist Paulo Freire (1970) sharply critiqued dominant pedagogy--or what he called the banking model of education--for stripping students of their agency. In the banking model, he wrote, instructors are empowered as narrating subjects as students who become alienated as passive listening objects. In the decades since, research…

In this article I examine the role of the contemporary university in light of the mass increase in class sizes that has occurred on an international scale. While we may look nostalgically back to a time when lectures numbered a few hundred students and tutorials had as few as ten, massification at undergraduate level is an inescapable fact of…

As good teachers may have great influence on positive outcomes of students, educational systems should provide feedback about their professional performances in any way. Otherwise, not only do teachers fail but the system fails. It is claimed that students have some reasons while they are evaluating the lecture and teaching. This study was…

In recent years, education quality and quality assessment have received a great deal of attention at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Bangladesh. Most of the HEIs in Bangladesh face severe resource constraints and find it difficult to improve education quality by improving inputs, such as better infrastructure and modernized classroom…

This investigation reports on a study that assesses how students value active, cooperative, and traditional learning activities within a single large cross-disciplinary class. The study surveyed students' perceived value of a range of teaching techniques (from traditional to cooperative) utilized within a general education class. Students rated…

This publication contains excerpts from published works on the teaching of undergraduate sociology by sociologists known for their contribution to scholarship. In addition to bringing these writings to a broader audience, the series is a reminder that the creation of sociological knowledge and its transmission have been joint concerns of many…

Shares some surprising results from a business communication program's recent experiment in using a large lecture format to teach an upper-division business communication course: approximately 90-95% of the students liked the large lecture format, and the quality of their communication deliverables was as good as that produced by students who took…

Classroom communication barriers were identified by 291 financial accounting and 372 managerial accounting students. Both groups thought the greatest problems in large group instruction were too much information given in lectures, large class size, and lack of interest in the subject matter. (SK)

The aims of lectures for large groups of mathematics students are examined. Various matters pertaining to effective lecturing (selection of content and student feedback, for example) are explored, and the future of large group lectures is discussed. (SD)

The lecture-script/assignment method can replace the lecture, freeing time for students' active participation in group discussion. (IR)

Discusses the passive role that students often take in large classes and argues for teaching methods such as cooperative learning that place students in a more active learning environment. Examines the advantages and potential drawbacks of cooperative learning for large classes and provides suggestions on preparing for group work. (DDR)

How one professor successfully handled a class of 100 students at Arizona State University is described. The large lecture group was broken down into random groups of eight or ten students who kept the instructor informed of their learning progress by submitting reports in the form of reading reports, diaries, observations, behavior experiments,…

Describes a number of informal "turn-to-your-neighbor" approaches that create an active learning environment in college lecture settings. These include: launching class in discussion, breaking up the lecture for comprehension checks, closing class with small-group conversation, and debriefing exams. (DB)

A study concerned with attitudes and achievement in a speech communication course is reported. Of three methods of instruction, the small class-individual instructor technique prompted more favorable student attitudes than did the 40- or 80-student lecture treatments. (Editor/LBH)