David Weale and Class Size

I posted this comment today on Peter's Blog:

I think that Peter raised the issue about class size being something that should remain on the table.

Can we talk about that for a bit?

What happens when you are lectured at by someone who cannot mark your papers and who may not know your name? Is this quality? Is this excellence?

Universities are on track to be factories. I worked at York a few years back. Many of the classes were 200-300. The prof never saw a paper and never could do more than lecture at the students. Every class had a text book and a set of harassed TA's that were barely older and more experienced than the undergrads. As universities fight to get bums on seats - this is where they are going. Is this quality? Is this worth the money? Is any learning going on? Is this where UPEI is going?

Does it have to be that? Is being a factory going to be a competitive offering?

Now my age comes into the picture. When I was an undergrad - the largest class I had was 3. Each of us would read our papers to the prof out loud. We would then discuss them in a group with the prof. He would then set us a large question and send us out to the resources of the university to find our answers and to be ready next week to offer our best shot again. Now that was learning. That was excellence and that was quality - the objective was to teach us how to think and how to take charge of our own learning - not to regurgitate a text book or the views of one professor.

In seeking enrollment above the student experience, universities risk offering a facade of learning. In Canada most undergrad offerings seem to me little more than high school with bigger classes

So can a university have a large enrollment and offer the kind of interactive engagement that we all need to learn? Yes they can - it is called online.

What will make the change? First, the Emperor's clothes effect will kick in. There will come a time soon, when many 23 year olds with a 4 year BA and $40,000 of debt will realize that this commodity degree has no value in either the workplace or in life. Universities roll out fear stats saying that if you don't have a degree you are done for. But who do you know is routinely getting their feet on a ladder that will take the somewhere with one of today's sad degrees?

What would it be about what they have just been through that would make them as a group attractive to you as an employer? Have they been taught to think for themselves? Have they been taught to learn? Have they been taught anything that is current? Have they gone deep into anything?

In a world where more and more of us will not have jobs but have to create work - look at Peter or the SO boys etc - have you learned anything that will make you comfortable in an unstructured landscape?

How will having 30-40,000 of debt affect your choices and your life on graduation?

There is a small but growing group of educators who are working to create a much more interactive and valuable offer. Just as the airlines, retailers and the media are being undermined by a new offering that fits the real needs of the customer, so post secondary education needs to look out for the revolution to reach them as well.

A university that will be very successful in the future will make the student experience its most important issue of quality. This experience will not be limited to how nice the campus is but will include the learning experience and the reality of the value of the degree and the association with the university in life after graduation

So the fuss about David Weale has obscured the point. By focusing on David, it has missed the risk for UPEI. That a revolution is sweeping the world. This revolution is using the new technology to offer the consumer a much better deal. All the technology is in place today to offer the student a much more current, interactive and less expensive learning experience. An experience that takes the student out into the world. An experience that builds a network for the student with not only other students but with practitioners. All this for a fraction of the direct and indirect costs for the students.

The opportunity for UPEI, is that these revolutions always happen from the edges in. The last place to change will be Harvard - see the resignation of the President who had offering a better undergrad experience at the top of his agenda. UPEI is well placed to take a lead. It has not grown too big and has a culture of community that is real.

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