Get Your Students Hired
Are there any studies on class size and retention numbers? I feel that concentrating on the weaker students in a 30 student class to keep numbers up causes others to feel left out. Would decreasing the class size have a positive effect on this? How do you "keep the balance"?
I believe that class size absolutely effects retention. I instruct a dental assisting class at a technical school. Most of our time needs to be spent on hands-on instruction. With a large class size, students become frustrated when I am not available for one-on-one assistance. There are students who excel and are ready to move on and then there are some who need much more time. Either way I go someone is feeling cheated. I offer tutoring, but students tend not to come because they feel I am rushing in class and it is not fair that they have to come to school after hours for something they should have time for in class. Some days I feel like I cannot win!
Does the second person in the lab have to be an instructor? Could upperclass assistants do the same thing?
I find that when I teach a class of 26 to 30 studentsthat I am spead very thin. I am not able to give the attention that the lost students need and still aid the other students when they have questions as well. I feel that if we are going to teach a class that size that two instuctors in that class during lab time would benifit the student experiance and help retention.
I have not seen any facts or figures on class size vs retention, but a smaller class would definetly benefit from the instructors ability to deliver the material on a more personal basis. Some students have a tendency to get lost in the crowd.