Entering a lecture hall at university for the first time can be daunting for some. At Carleton, especially in a first-year class, it’s common to have upwards of 400 students facing just one instructor.
Over time, most people adjust to such large class sizes. For others, it can affect their capacity to learn. This is why researchers are looking into how to make the learning environment better for everyone.
Beyond shrinking class sizes, researchers are looking into ways to effectively incorporate technology into the lecture hall and embrace more collaborative learning styles.
Ken Graetz is the director of e-learning at Winona State University in the United States. He has researched the psychology of learning environments extensively. His work was published by Educause, a non-profit organization with the mission of advancing higher education.
Graetz’s findings show that “higher social density results in lower student achievement.”
Being surrounded by hundreds of classmates is not only daunting, but it’s also affecting some students’ ability to do well.
“Students can be expected to work together most effectively at personal distances of two to four feet without feeling crowded,” Graetz said.
Achieving this is nearly impossible in a lecture based learning environment. Seminar based learning is a logical solution to these issues.
However, the real challenge is in finding the resources to create these new learning environments and sharply adjusting the student to instructor ratio in the process.
This is where the use of technology comes in. Carleton already offers courses online through Carleton University Online (CUOL).
CUOL offers a more one-on-one approach to course delivery than your average university lecture hall. The downside is not being physically present in the classroom to ask questions or provoke discussion.
Amedeo D’Angiulli is a neuroscience professor at Carleton whose research focuses on mental imagery, or what our mind sees. He said classrooms need to incorporate technology for practical use.
D’Angiulli said he doesn’t buy into the idea that technology is somehow making us a less intelligent species.
This idea was made famous by technology writer Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid? What the Internet is doing to our brains.”
But D’Angiulli doesn’t agree with this view.
“Technology is assisting us and it makes us more intelligent and powerful,” he said.
For that reason, D’Angiulli said he thinks technology should be actively incorporated into the classroom. The devices designed to encourage learning that are used today are limited, he said.
“The fact is, clickers become boring. We need a combination of devices,” D’Angiulli continued.
Lisa Nisbet is a psychology professor at Carleton who researches people’s connection with nature and the effect it has on a person’s well being. As an instructor, she believes technology has a definite place in the classroom.
“Learning is not one-sided, so I need to be able to communicate in a way that my students understand and that fits with their style of learning,” she said.
“If that means updating my style and methods, incorporating technology, hopefully doing so helps the students,” she said.
Beyond the use of technology, D’Angiulli said he believes in a reconfiguration of the approach to learning and achievement altogether.
“I believe in courses driven by research,” he said. “My perfect classroom involves projects and groups.”
D’Angiulli said he’s a firm believer in comparative learning. Comparative learning, according to D’Angiulli, is when “everybody has a project and they work together, instead of always competing for the best grade.”
Grade achievement can distract the student from the actual purpose and content of the course, he said.
“The best teaching style depends on the course and the context,” he added.
As learners, everyone interprets information differently. With this kind of information being highlighted by researchers, educators must now decide the best way to approach the learning process.
A new generation of learners and a new generation of technological devices are now populating lecture halls across the country and elsewhere.
But in terms of the use of technology within the classroom, Graetz said updates need to be made.
“Today’s devices are colliding with yesterday’s methods,” he said.
