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Large Groups - Students' Assessment: HOW?

  • 1.  Large Groups - Students' Assessment: HOW?

    Posted 12-29-2002 12:56
    Are some of these "large courses" led by a single lecturer who does all the
    teaching and all the grading;
    or are there "assistant" teachers by some name who do some of the
    teaching/facilitating and grading?

    At the school my daughter teaches at the course has some "sage from the
    stage" lecturing; but the majority of the course is actually taught and
    graded by other Masters students, like her. She is in anthropology, so I
    don't know if this is how Management is also taught in such schools.

    I think I will mention to my leadership that we should be focusing on our
    faculty/student ratios in our marketing.

    Conna Condon

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "Chris Seow" <seow@btinternet.com>
    To: <MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU>
    Sent: Sunday, December 29, 2002 6:29 AM
    Subject: Large Groups - Students' Assessment: HOW?


    Hello All:

    I can empathize with John Milliken's particular dilemma; in addition, I
    would welcome any insights or experiences on how to assess such large groups
    of students, especially at MBA level with particular reference to a module
    in "Operations Management".

    More than happy to provide a summary of the contributions to the forum if
    the descriptions are varied.

    Regards and a Happy 2003 to you.

    Chris Seow

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Management Education and Development Discussion
    [mailto:MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU] On Behalf Of Charles Wankel
    Sent: 29 December 2002 13:11
    To: MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
    Subject: Re: Got publications?

    From: John Milliken [mailto:j.milliken@ulster.ac.uk]

    Dear All,

    Unfortunately many of us work in institutions driven by market forces
    and
    lecture groups of 200, 300 and above are commonplace. The senior
    management are not concerned about the needs of students or staff -
    simply
    the head count for income.

    My own lecture groups are 200+ so I have to use a range of strategies
    for
    the teaching and learning process to be effective. These include web
    technology, multimedia lectures, problem based tutorials and assessment
    based
    on a hierarchy of learning. My criteria are that I must provide
    adequate
    scaffolding of my students' cognitive processes and assessment should
    provide opportunity to demonstrate recall, comprehension and application
    of
    course concepts.

    This requires considerable time commitment and energy but the
    institution is
    still only interested in numbers. The fact that I am using a 10 year
    old
    Apple Mac (borrowed from a colleague) to deliver lectures is a clear
    indication of the institutional view.

    Thank you to all contributors - it is a relief to know that there are
    others
    out there willing to share experiences.

    Best wishes,

    John M.