Dublin: University College Dublin, 2010. — 12 p. — (UCD Teaching and Learning/Resources).Light and Cox (2001) describe that the lecture is almost synonymous with what higher education is all about, particularly for the undergraduates. It is popular as an efficient way to 'teach' large numbers of students, more recently though it has received bad press as to its position in relation to student learning.
To change away from a large lecture format often requires a complete curriculum review change, and many lecturers are not in a position to do this, they do not have choice in the class size that they teach. How then can a lecturer create the best learning environment in the class size that they teach?
Small group teaching has become more popular as a means of encouraging student learning. While beneficial the tutor needs a different set of skills for those used in lecturing, and more pertinently, small group work is an often luxury many lecturers cannot afford. A further consideration with small group teaching is the subjective perspective of what constitutes a small group. A lecturer used to taking 400 in a lecture would define 50 as a small group, while a lecturer used to a group of 50 would define 5-10 as a small group. In a discussion, where participation is assessed some students may not speak up in a group that begins to be get bigger than 10 participants and in addition tutors would find it hard to assess participation by individual students in groups with numbers greater than this.
Regardless of the group size the learning environment should provide an opportunity for students to obtain a deep understanding of the material. The methods mentioned here can be adapted for either large or small group teaching.
