Students struggle in large lecture classes

Philip Freeman, Fletcher Jones chair of Western Culture, prepares students for upcoming final exam (Photo by of Annie Chambers).

Students are feeling overcrowded in large lecture classes — and it’s impacting their ability to learn.

Pepperdine administrators have added more class sections to accommodate the largest first-year class in the history of the university. Some students however, are still complaining that their classes are overcrowded.

“Last fall was a decent size (class) but we anticipate these things in advance so that we have enough sections for students,” said Andrea Harris, senior director of Student Administrative Services.

Large Elkins lecture classes are one of the ways Pepperdine deals with larger class sizes. Students often find it hard to pay attention in classes of up to 200, and professors are struggling to keep the class focused.

There are more students on campus due to the increased number of students admitted for the fall semester. There are currently 940 first-year students.

Over the years, enrollment in large lecture courses has been dependent on how many students need the GE requirement.

“One class is capped at 235 instead of 200 which is still under the 300 maximum of the classes,” Harris said.

Religion 101 was not offered in Elkins in the spring 2017 (Data courtesy of Andrea Harris, senior director of Student Administrative Services).  

The enrollment numbers vary throughout GE courses. Sociology 200, an Elkins course, currently has 230 students, while Econ 200 has only 159 students.

Students struggle to stay engaged

While some classes are meant to hold large audiences, some students find it difficult to learn in such a packed auditorium.

“I have done worse in every class that I have had in a large lecture because I don’t feel as engaged as when I am in a smaller class,” Julia Baklayan, junior international studies major, said.

Some students said that how well they do in the class depends on how much they participate.

“I sit in the front of the class so I feel like I am more engaged in discussions,” Alana Richards, first-year political science major, said.

Others said that in order to do well in their large-lecture classes, they have to be more dedicated to learning the material.

“If I am not sitting in the front of the classroom, I get distracted very easily,” McKenna Wizner, first-year teacher education major, said.

Wizner said reviewing the material outside of class has allowed her to still do well on exams.

Students also said the length of their large-lecture classes also makes it hard to stay engaged.

Monica Avila, a junior public relations major, is enrolled in a three-hour block of Humanities 313 in Elkins.

“I don’t learn that much because my attention span is not that long,” Avila said.  

Trying to make large classes work

Professors in large classes have found ways to still meet Pepperdine’s high standard of education. Videos, small group activities and student-led discussions are just a few of the ways that professors accommodate up to 235 students.

Philip Freeman, Fletcher Jones chair of Western Culture, is teaching Humanities 111 this semester. His class currently has 225 students enrolled.

“I can ask questions, but I can’t do a discussion,” Freeman said. “If I opened the floor up to 200 students it would be chaos.”

This is his first year teaching at Pepperdine, but Freeman has previously taught smaller classes at other schools.

“I think that there are limits to what you can do in a lecture class,” Freeman said. “Smaller courses are always better.”

Exam days

Students said the number of students in their class varies depending on the given day.

“On test days my classes are always a lot more crowded,” Wizner said.

Others felt that the amount of students in the class decreased as the semester progressed.

“There were a lot more students on the first day of class compared to now,” said junior biology major Kristen Hardin who’s enrolled in Soc 200, which has 230 students. “The class is usually only crowded on exam days.”

Sophomore sports administration major Brian Ramirez said his film lecture feels more crowded on exam days.

“Our teacher hands out our exams one by one, so it takes a long time to get the exams out to 200 students,” Ramirez said.

No differences

Junior business major Anne Brainard is currently taking Hum 212 and Political Science 104, which are both taught in Elkins.

“There are a lot of kids in the class, but not any more than my freshman year,” Brainard said.

Randy Mata, senior advertising and Hispanic Studies major, said he hasn’t experienced crowded classes.

“There was a problem with some kids trying to get into my (Com 313) class,” Mata said.

University response

The university plans to have a lower number of spring admits than normal in order to offset the large number of students from the fall semester. Haris said there was an increase in applicants after Pepperdine was listed as No. 46 in the U.S. News and World Report college ranking.

Pepperdine has also created the Center for Teaching Excellence, which aims to provide professors with the opportunity to improve their teaching. Chris Heard, the director of the program, shared that the center provides guest lectures and workshops for Seaver professors.

Right now the center does not have a program specifically designed to help professors combat audiences of up to 260 students, but Heard said it could happen in the future.

“As I get a better feel for what professors think their needs are, then we can specifically target those things,” Heard said.

OneStop has made sure to have multiple sections of non-Elkins GE courses, to ensure that students not only get into the course, but are also getting an individualized education. There are currently 16 sections of English 101 being taught.

Harris said there are also limits on how many students can be in specific GE courses. Com 180 has a maximum of 18 students per class. In order to provide more classes, individual divisions are in charge of hiring more professors if necessary.

First-year students are limited to two Elkins courses per semester. Exceptions are made for Film lectures and science pre-laboratory courses.

Annie Chambers completed the reporting for this story under the supervision of Dr. Christina Littlefield and Dr. Theresa de los Santos in Jour 241 in fall 2017. Dr. Littlefield supervised the writing of the web story.