THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN KU Life DECEMBER 5,1995 PAGE 8A
For many students, megaclasses can be maddening.
Lost in Chem 184
"Unless it's well-done and well-handled, a large lecture class won't be a good learning environment for students,' says Professor Albert Burgstahler (above left), who teaches the University's largest class, Chemistry 184.
Sitting in the balcony of Murphy Hall's Crafton-Preyer Theatre, Jennifer Shriver tries to decipher diagrams of distorted graphs.
diagrams of diatomic molecules on two
screen tests on the stage about
50 feet away
A few rows back, a student puts his feet up, pulls his hat down over his eyes and goes to sleep. Another student is working on a Spanish assignment, oblivious to the class she's physically attending. Others twist restlessly in their seats, trying to pop their sines.
Shriver has done the assigned reading and homework, but she doesn't understand the lecture.
Unfortunately, asking questions in class isn't an option. From where she sits, the professor looks about a foot tall. He probably can't even see her.
"I don't get anything out of the lectures," said Shriver, Arkansas City freshman. "Most of the time, I have no idea what he's talking about. I don't even know why I come."
Shriver, like so many others in the class of about 720 students, is lost in CHEM 184, the largest class at the University of Kansas.
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Ask KU students what their biggest gipes are about the University, and large classes tops the list. They say you feel as if you are just a number. They say there is no genuine interaction between the student and the professor. They say large classes make it difficult, if not impossible to learn.
The Freshman/Sophomore Experience Report bears out those complaints. Compiled through surveys and focus groups by a KU task force between 1993 and 1995, the report examined the quality of undergraduate education at the University.
The result? Students are less likely to prepare for class and more likely to become passive consumers.
The report cites the detrimental effects of class size on student learning as the biggest challenge in lower-division instruction.
"Lots of large classes over the first few years may convey the message that the University doesn't care a lot about them," said Allan Cigler, professor of political science and chairman of the task force.
The report's findings are discouraging. Faculty input into the report says students' inability to connect with instructors or authority figures at KU is "perhaps the most serious problem some lower-division students face."
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CHEM 184's logistical challenges alone are enough to deter even the most capable of professors.
"From the standpoint of organization, it's a pretty big challenge for the teacher in charge of the class," said Albert Burgsthal, a professor of chemistry who teaches CHEM 184 this semester.
Since Hoch Auditorium burned down in 1991, Crafton-Preyer Theatre is the only venue on campus large enough to accommodate the class, which in some semesters has close to 1,000 students. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, Burgstahler carries everything he needs for class from Malott Hall to Mumby Hall.
He arrives about an hour early for the 8:30 a.m. class to make sure the audiovideo equipment is working. If the overhead projectors aren't working, the class might as well be canceled.
Starting on time is critical. Class must end five minutes early to accommodate the emptying of the theater. As hundreds of students stream out of the various exits, it looks like a crowd exiting a sold-out movie.
Distributing handouts is difficult because Burgstahler doesn't have teaching assistants for the lecture. Sometimes a store-room employee helps.
Essay and short-answer tests are out of the question. Due to the sheer number of students, all the tests are multiple choice and given in the evenings at multiple locations.
Most professors are not jumping at the opportunity to teach such an enormous class. Knowing several hundred students by name in addition to figuring out how to make such a large class engaging is a challenge few instructors would relish.
"Unless it's well-done and well-handled, a large lecture class won't be a good learning environment for students," Burgstahler said.
So he spends about seven hours preparing for each lecture. He said Foundations of Chemistry I wasn't an easy class to teach under any circumstances.
The material itself is difficult, and some students in the class have had some college chemistry, though others never have cracked a chemistry textbook.
I inevitably, in the balancing act, some students will be left out. Matt Christopher, Rantoul freshman, is one of them. Lecture for Christopher is, as he puts it, pretty ridiculous.
The challenge is to teach the material without boring some and losing others, Burgstahler said.
"A lot of the language he uses is on my head," said Christopher, who had a year of
high-school chemistry. "It seems like the professor's highest priority is the chemistry majors, the more interested, accelerated students."
Philip Colombo, Kansas City, Mo., graduate student in chemistry, teaches one lab and leads two discussion sections. He said he thought teaching such a diverse class would be difficult.
"A really good teacher needs to be able to learn from the students and teach the class accordingly," Colombo said.
Kristin Bowman-James, chairwoman of the chemistry department, said the department was concerned about the size of CHEM 184, but she contended that if the student took the initiative, the class would prove manageable.
"A lot of times, students don't take advantage of the things we do to mitigate the problems of a large class," she said.
BEST SELECTION
Burgstalter said he gave review sheets for each chapter, spent time in class reviewing for tests and encouraged students to come to his office hours if they had questions.
But Christopher goes to every lecture with the fading hope that he might be able to pick out something familiar.
"Some of the disadvantages of bigness can be overcome by very skillful instructors."
Students also can seek help from their lab instructors. And this fall the department added 12 voluntary discussion sessions led by graduate students in chemistry to give class members time to ask
Alian Cigier professor of political science
Most agree that in addition to knowing the material, the instructor of a megaclass must be a showman. For years, the sociology department's showman was Daryl Evans, who taught introductory-level sociology in a dynamic fashion to several hundred students at a time. Because of Evans' reputation, students flocked to the class desmites its size.
"There are very few advantages to a big over a small class," he said. "But some of the disadvantages of bigness can be overcome by very skillful instructors."
But he also said large classes weren't necessarily detrimental — if they were taught by the right people.
Some in academia contend there is nothing inherently wrong with huge classes and that once you get beyond 50 students, the class might as well have 1,000 students. Cigler said that classes larger than 50 students had a greatly diminished opportunity for student-teacher interaction.
questions.
In the chemistry department, being a showman can mean doing experiments, showing videos and relating chemistry to everyday life — anything to keep students tuned in and interested. Burgstahler said.
"It all boils down to how well a class is taught," he said. "If it's interesting and exciting, it's going to be successful."
In the 1960s, the chemistry department hired Clark Bricker, a successful showman, and combined what had been smaller sections into one huge class. Although
Bricker's CHEM 184 class often swelled to more than 1,000 students, he had a way of keeping lectures interesting and teaching so that students could understand.
Colombo said large classes gave excellent professors an opportunity to teach more students.
"If you have a Clark Bricker, a really good lecturer, why just have him teach to 20 students when he could be teaching 1,000?" he said.
David Shulenburger, vice chancellor for academic affairs, also said that large classes had their place at the University.
"Our notion is to keep the number of those classes very small and ensure that top-flight instructors are teaching them." he said.
Cigler said that many departments tried to get their most talented, charismatic professors to teach introductory classes to spur student interest early in the academic experience.
But not every professor can be a Daryl Evans or Clark Bricker.
"People didn't realize the ramifications of it over time," she said. "As the class continued to grow, people didn't make strong attempts to hire more faculty and divide it up."
"There's not a simple solution. It's something we're trying to work out," she said.
Of course, chemistry, like most departments, would love to have more faculty. But with the University facing millions in budget cuts, hiring more faculty members isn't likely. Shulenburger said.
When Bricker retired, Bowman-James said, the department had a hard time replacing him.
And putting even a pretty good instructor in front of 1,000 students isn't a wise move.
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Bowman-James said that in the future, the department might have to offer graduate-level courses less often or ask faculty to take on heavier teaching loads.
huge section, Bowman-James said.
CHEM 184 probably will not remain one
"If you have a ... really good lecturer,why just have him teach to 20 students when he could be teaching 1.000?"
Philip Colombo Kansas City, Mo., graduate student
next fall, CHEM 185, an honors section of the class, will be offered for those students with more experience or interest in chemistry. The maximum enrollment will be 50 students.
Bowman-James said the department also was looking into dividing the class into several sections based on students' proficiency in chemistry or career aspirations.
he admits he's no Clark Bricker.
Large classes aren't on their way out Budget cuts, present and future, will see to that.
Instructors and students agree large classes will continue to be only as effective as the instructors who teach them. Burgstahler said he was trying hard, but
"The University of Kansas doesn't put 700 people in a class because it doesn't care. It's all it can do," Cigler said. "For the foreseeable future, we're going to have large classes because we don't have a choice."
Cigler said he thought large classes should be top-notch or not offered at all.
"If he had more energy and pizzazz, it would be a lot easier to pay attention and therefore learn," said one of Burgstahler's students in the balcony.
"I don't think we can get rid of the large classes, but we can make sure to have the absolute best professors teaching them," he said.
That's little comfort to Jenifer Shriver, still mystified in the balcony of Crafton-Preyer Theatre. At 9:15 a.m., she slaps her notebook shut and heads for the jammed stairwell exit.
"In lecture, we have to move really fast, and there's not a lot of time to explain it to us," Shriver said. "You just go to class, take notes, don't know what he's talking about, and try to teach it to yourself, somehow."
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