2.1 A narrative review of literature regarding class size in online  (Page 4/11)

What is not included in this review is literature related to and reporting of specific tools for teaching, learning management systems, course and content quality, online learning environments, or the role of the instructor. Rather, our focus herein was strictly related to class size for online courses in higher education. This focus ranged from undergraduate to graduate classes and the distinction was attempted when it was possible to determine from the published literature. In this narrative review, we first share the anecdotal, theoretical, and opinion works published. Next, we present the studies found in the literature. Finally, we furnish concluding remarks including gaps and future directions for research.

Anecdotal information related to class size for online courses

There is a broad opinion as expressed by Foerster (2011) that colleges and universities try to set themselves apart from competing institutions in terms of student/faculty ratio and class size. The concept is that if there are fewer students to vie for the professor’s attention, the more attention each student will receive, and the better outcome the student will have. Foerster indicated that insomuch as there are simply large numbers of people who value small classes, there must be something to the idea. He indicated, “It's extremely rare for even the lowest level online course to have more than twenty or twenty-five students” (¶ 4). Also, Shelton and Saltzman (2005) supported the notion of small class sizes online and indicated that more is required of the professor for online courses as opposed to face-to-face courses in terms of student interactions in order to engage students and to determine the degree to which they are learning. Because of that, they recommended to keep class sizes small. Likewise, Howard (2002), a professor and author of Guidelines for Effective Distance Education at the University of Mary Hardin Baylor in Texas, indicated online classes should have a small class size of 20 students.

There are interaction issues when there are too few students in online classes in terms of generating meaningful discussions. In fact, Rovai (2002) recommended eight to ten students for meaningful discussions and interactions. On the other hand, too many students may generate more messages than the students and the faculty member can attend to on a daily basis; therefore, up to 15 students in a graduate class was recommended by Colwell and Jenks (2004), and even 10 to 14 has been noted as a good number for first-time faculty members teaching online (Boettcher, 2006a). Others such as Aragon (2003) and Rovai (2002) have suggested 30 as a maximum number on online classes. Numbers of students in online classes matter, according to Dykman and Davis (2008), particularly in terms of the level of interaction possible; therefore, they recommended numbers of students in the classes online should be limited. They indicated that the larger the classes, the more impersonal they become and that quality could suffer.