The in-depth article excerpted briefly below is worth reading. It reveals that the leadership of some flagship public universities may be confusing their institutions' capacity for access with classroom capacity and other capacities for providing a nurturing residential experience to traditional-age students who are seeking that experience. The wise use of proven IT-enabled strategies not only can improve the learning and maturing results of a residential learning experience and the capacity to provide it (by cutting back on course contact hours), but can also extend access to students who are not interested in, or unable to participate in, a residential program. Size need not compromise quality and human interaction in the Internet era of communication and convenience.
Filled to the Brim
David Epstein, Inside Higher Ed, November 16, 2005
Officials at some of the nation’s largest campuses say they’re glad to be popular, but not looking to grow. In fact, they said, like an elephant hiding behind a pole, a large campus has to find ways to seem a bit smaller, especially for incoming freshmen. Read more ...
There seems to be an assumption that small equals quality - If it only was that easy to obtain quality the direction of the future would be clear. But quality needs to be measured and assessed before large institutions fall into the secondary school mode of asking for funds by using class size as an indicator. One of the variables is who is doing the instruction and the modes used for various learners.
Posted by: Dick Leurig | December 18, 2005 at 08:54 PM