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More than 800 students are enrolled in professor Craig Martin's Biology 100 class. The course, held in 120 Budig Hall, is one of the largest offered by the University of Kansas.
Photo by Brad Dreier/KANSAN
Digitally enhanced by Harry Sze/KANSAN
Kiran Jayaram, Kansas City, Mo., graduate student, shows Fletcher Powell, Wichita senior, a sacred religious item in Haitian 230. With Powell as the only student, Haitian 230 is the smallest class at the University of Kansas.
Photo by Heather Young/KANSAN
Photo illustration by Harry Sze/KANSAN
KU instructors handle both massive and tiny numbers of students
y Warisa Chulindra Special to the Kansan
For that matter, imagine lecturing in front of one
yes, one — student.
Imagine lecturing in front of hundreds of students for 50 minutes. Imagine delivering the class material in such an interesting way that students actually stay awake — putting away their newspapers and taking notes.
Classes at the University of Kansas run the gamut from those stuffed inside huge lecture halls to those that would barely fill a coat closet.
"The wonderful thing about the University of Kansas is the variety of class size," said Sally Frost Mason, dean of the college of liberal arts and sciences. "There's a lot of choice."
It takes a certain type of person to teach the largest classes — someone who enjoys teaching the masses. Someone who can perform. Someone with energy.
Craig Martin, professor of biology, is one of those professors. Three years ago, he decided he wanted to teach Biology 100 in the largest classroom on the KU campus—120 Budig Hall.
He already had taught classes of about 200 students but said he was intrigued to teach larger classes of freshmen and nonbiology majors.
"What intrigued me about doing that was that it forced me to expand the breadth of my knowledge," said Martin, a plant physiology specialist. "It scared me a little, to tell you the truth, but someone had to do it."
Viewing the whole thing
With about 800 students filling the lecture hall, the 11:30 Monday, Wednesday and Friday section of Biology 100 is massive.
As students trickle into the 120 Budig, they hear The Daily Demo, a song relating to the class topic for the day. Friday, it was "Clean up your Heart" by Sizzla, for a lecture concentrating on
human heart
martin has a Daily Demo bag with items relating to the day's topic. Throughout the lecture, he pulls out vials of white, transparent caterpillars and a chunk of wood.
"I like to do funny things." Martin said, chuckling.
"I like to do weird things."
Earlier in the semester, when discussing digestion, Martin pulled out a piece of chocolate, pretended it as feces and ate it.
Some students arrive early to get the seat of their choice in the auditorium, which holds 1,000. The floor seats, particularly those at the front, are among the first the fill.
Also filling quickly are the seats in the balcony that have rails in front of them.
Sitting next to him was Seth Stoner, Topea freshman. The two have biology lab together and usually sit together when they can find each other.
"I want to put my feet up and view the whole thing," said Matt Kolcz, Glen Eilyn, Ill., freshman
Kolez and Stoner said they accepted that large classes were a part of attending a large public university. They noted the advantages: They have no homework or quizzes to worry about because their grades are based on four unit tests; there is no pressure to participate in class; it's a class that can be easily skipped because attendance isn't taken; and the two can always borrow notes from someone else.
Kolcz and Stoner remembered the first day of class.
Added Stoner. "I said, 'wow.'"
Throughout class, students slip into the balcony, and some even leave.
"I thought, 'this is a big room to be in,'" Kolcz said.
Martin said students sleeping, reading newspapers and leaving early didn't bother him.
"I'm always more surprised at how polite 700 to 800 people can be sometimes," Martin said. "It's amazing."
Four feet across from each other
If Fletcher Powell misses his Haitian 230 class, his instructor will notice.
The Wichita senior is enrolled in the smallest class on campus—he's the only student.
The class meets twice a week for an hour and a half in 4048 Wescoe Hall. The room is small and square with five desks, a blackboard and a projector screen.
In other classes, students show up early to claim a favorite seat. But as the lone student, Powell walks in a few minutes before class starts. His instructor, Kiran Jayaram, a graduate student, follows. The two sit about four feet across from each other.
The two talk about their weekend before discussing the assigned readings. Powell asks questions about points he didn't understand, and Jayaram explains, sometimes speaking in English and writing on the blackboard.
"I feel I'm learning a lot more," Powell said. "I think it helps that I like my teacher and look forward to class."
The class is tailored to fit Powell, but there is a downside to that. Jayaram said because Powell was a good student, they often finish lessons early with 30 to 45 minutes remaining. They try to fill the rest of the time by talking about Haitian culture, sometimes taking class outside on warm days.
Not having another student in a foreign language can have its disadvantages.
"The only voice he hears is mine." Jayaram said. "And in learning a language, it's important to accustom yourself to more than one voice to familiarize yourself with the language."
To compensate, Jayaram sometimes invites his Haitian friends to class. Powell said it helped to hear native voices of the language instead of other students like him who were still trying to grasp the language.
Powell has been in large classes and said he didn't pay attention as well. It's a difference he noticed in his Haitian class.
"This way I don't have a choice," Powell said. "I
A goal of informing people
don't really have a choice one way or another if I want to pay attention, which is good."
At KU, introductory classes tend to have hundreds of students while upper-level and specialized courses have single-digit rosters.
College of liberal arts and sciences dean Sally Frost Mason said that large lecture classes were an efficient way to teach introductory classes, and that students could benefit from having a professor teach the course rather than a graduate teaching assistant.
A common concern about large classes is the lack of personal interaction between students and the professor. These classes force students to take the initiative to talk to their professors, Frost Mason said. She has experienced this firsthand, teaching large classes such as Biology 100.
Professors of large classes try to make themselves accessible to students. Biology 100 instructor Martin has Help! sessions twice a week. Students can ask questions or have pointed clarifications.
David Holmes, professor of psychology, teaches the largest class on campus with nearly 1,000 students, a section of Psychology 104. He teaches three other classes — the smallest with 50 students.
During lecture, Holmes projects a picture of himself on the middle screen of the auditorium so students in the balcony know what he looks like. He gets to class half an hour early and stays after class for half an hour so students can ask questions. Holmes said he always was mobbed when he walked in the door.
"As a teacher, my goal is to inform people," Holmes said. "And if I can do it for 1,000 instead of 10. I'm much happier."
Haitian instructor Jayaram said small classes were more laid back and that he didn't have to be as much of an authority figure.
"It's a lot easier because I can get a feel when a student doesn't understand something," he said.
— Edited by Clav McCuistion
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