 |
Administrators and academic leaders at UC Berkeley invited the campus community to an all-day forum on May 2 to share ideas about large enrollment courses and how they could be reworked in the future to better meet the campus's educational goals.
Convened by Paul Gray, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, and Christina Maslach, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, (  view videos ) the forum brought together faculty, students, graduate student instructors, administrators, and staff for presentations, demonstrations, and most importantly conversations about large courses (i.e., several hundred students) and the challenges they present to both faculty and students. All attendees were encouraged to make suggestions for how the campus should meet these challenges in the future.
Although the "Rethinking Large Enrollment Courses: New Ideas for Teaching and Learning" forum did not focus exclusively on technological solutions, much of the discussion centered around how digital technologies could assist in enhancing the teaching and learning experiences.
Attendees cited some of the common problems associated with large enrollment courses, such as inadequate technical support, varying levels of quality among sections, an abundance of administrative hassles, and a lack of engaging learning experiences for students.
New technology may be able to mitigate some of these issues, said Maslach, and in fact some instructors are already successfully doing so; however, because the campus is so decentralized, it's hard to disseminate that information widely.
Maslach cited a number of issues facing UC Berkeley in the near future that make this an opportune time to devise a strategy for large enrollment courses, such as a growing undergraduate population, a shrinking graduate student population (as compared to undergraduate growth rates) - resulting in not enough teaching assistants, and an aging physical infrastructure. It makes sense to target these courses, said Maslach, because they are taken by the majority of undergraduates to meet breadth and major requirements.
The over 100 people in attendance at the forum broke into small groups for presentations and discussions and then came together at the end to make their suggestions to the administration.
"Today we'll develop the first steps of a strategic plan," said Maslach. "Your advice will help determine how we teach for the next 10 years."
The forum was sponsored by the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate, the Division of Undergraduate Education, e-Berkeley, and the Council of Academic Partners (CAP).
|