In her POD post of 11 Aug 2003 17:15:57-0500, tiled "Monster Classes"
Sally Kuhlenschmidt wrote:
"On our campus a "monster" class has [at least] 150 people in it . .
. A faculty member has asked me for ideas for efficiently managing
the logistics of such a class (handing out papers, taking role).
What does it take?"
In my post "Re: The college lecture may be fading" (Hake 2002), I
reference the very effective monster-class management system of Eric
Mazur and his colleagues at Harvard:
"For a recent article on the melding of the "Gutenberg Lecture
Method" [originated by chemist Frank Lambert in recognition of the
invention of the printing press - see Morrison (1986)], the
interactive-lecture "Peer Instruction" Method (Mazur 1997, Fagen et
al. 2002), "Just in Time Teaching" (Novak et al. 1999), and [an
education-research]-based text see the exemplary Harvard work of
Crouch & Mazur (2001).
But much more importantly than efficient logistics, as indicated in
Hake (2003), the Mazur group's monster-lecture method has resulted in
relatively high and continuously increasing average normalized gains
<g> for pre/post testing using the valid and consistently reliable
"Force Concept Inventory" test of the conceptual understanding of
Newtonian mechanics, see, e.g. at
<http://galileo.harvard.edu/galileo/lgm/pi/testdata.html>.
Unfortunately, the student-evaluation-of-teaching (SET) obsessed
Psychology/Education/Psychometric (PEP) community appears to be
uninterested in quantitative assessment of student learning gains.
Hake, R.R. 2002. "Re: The college lecture may be fading," post of 21
Aug 2002 15:34:25-0700 to Chemed-L, EvalTalk, Math-Learn, Math-Teach,
Phys-L, PhysLrnR, and POD; online at
<http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0208&L=pod&P=R16125>.
Hake, R.R. 2003. "NRC's CUSE: Stranded on Assessless Island?" post of
3 Aug 2003 12:52:16-0700 to ASSESS, Biopi-L, Chemed-L, EvalTalk,
PhysLrnR, and POD; online at
<http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0308&L=pod&F=&S=&P=391>.
That post was later sent to AERA-D, STLHE-L, Phys-L, and Biolab.
Mazur, E. 1997. "Peer instruction: a user's manual." Prentice Hall;
online at <http://galileo.harvard.edu/>.
Morrison, R. 1986. "The Lecture System in Teaching Science," in
"Undergraduate Education in Chemistry and Physics: Proceedings of the
Chicago Conferences on Liberal Education," No. 1, edited by M.R. Rice
(Univ. of Chicago), p. 50-58: "When Boyd and I brought out our first
edition [a classic text on organic chemistry] in 1959, we were faced
with the question of what to do with our class time .... It seemed
ridiculous to go into class and simply repeat what was already
available in the book..... Then at Atlantic City I happened to run
into Frank Lambert .... he was then teaching at Occidental College in
California. He was giving a talk on this very subject. He was
urging what he called 'the Gutenberg Method' of teaching - because,
of course, it was based on the fact that the printing press had been
invented several hundred years ago. Frank became my guru. I still
mentally bow towards the west when this subject comes up."