Teachers are feeling the increasing student-to-teacher ratio reported in the news.
According to research we published last year, the pressures of increasing student-to-teacher ratios are felt most acutely in the increased grading burden, particularly in contexts without TA support.
Similarly, teachers are feeling the strain of technology setup for small classes and pedagogically in large classes where attrition is increasing, and student engagement is falling.
The new wave of content platforms should allow teachers to modify content to their context and fill in perceived holes as indicated by the increasing use of supplemental materials being used in conjunction with paid resources.
These tools should provide grading (notably auto-grading) support—not just to relieve the grading burden but also to give students rich and instant feedback on their understanding. Unique to the CS field, there is a willingness to switch products for a platform that allows students ample coding practice alongside the text—with the ability to create, edit, and run code.
Interestingly, there is a disparity in resources between institutions that appears along the dimension of class size. This is probably a predictor of department and institution size. This means that price discounts by volume (a common practice) might exacerbate this inequity of access.
Here are the highlights from our research:
