Revising and Adding Evaluation for Online Learning: Impact of Class Size and Strategies for Improvement

This article analyzes the impact of class size on online learning and the advantages of face-to-face learning. It also suggests strategies for improving the quality of online courses.

Running head: REVISING AND ADDING EVALUATION
Revising and adding Evaluation
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

1REVISING AND ADDING EVALUATION
Analysis of the 1st Paragraph
In this paragraph, the impact of class size on the communication as well as acceptance
level of students attending online classes in an educational environment has been analyzed.
Considering the fact that larger class means a greater number of students, class size is directly
proportional to the number of notes students and instructors read and wrote. However, larger
class size often makes it difficult for students to maintain their attachment to the specific topic of
discussion. This takes place due to frequent sharing of information and knowledge by the
students attending the class from different parts of the world (Qiu, Hewitt & Brett, 2012). When
it comes to the percentage of notes read by students, the size of the notes as well as the grade
level score of the note, larger class size imposes an adverse impact on the mentioned factors.
This is because, a smaller class size makes it easier for the educators to examine the progress of
each student and thus an enhancement in the marks obtained by the students is evidenced (Means
et al., 2013).
Analysis of the 2nd Paragraph
In this paragraph, the advantage of face-to-face or offline learning over online learning has been
analyzed. Students attending face to face course develops knowledge bu attending the class,
participating in discussion with the classmates and listening to the instructor. All these are done
majorly done verbally and hence are highly spontaneous. In contrary, discussion and sharing of
opinion in online courses invoke conversation through text. Unlike offline learners, online
learners need to go through the massages, ask or answer questions or comment through text
messages. This process lacks the spontaneousness of online learning. Moreover, according to
researchers, distance education courses are developed and delivered in a very piece-meal and

2REVISING AND ADDING EVALUATION
unplanned fashion (Jain, Kothari & Thakurta 2012). As a result of this, the knowledge gathered
by the students while undergoing online learning is often insufficient. Along with that, face to
face discussion, since done verbally and are more spontaneous, is able to attract the attention and
interest of a greater number of students compared to the online courses. According to a survey,
the number of dropouts in offline courses is low compared to that of the online courses (Means et
al., 2013).
Analysis of the 3rd Paragraph
In this paragraph the importance of developing an optimal plan for them in order to
improve the quality the online learning course has been analyzed. Considering the fact that larger
number of students in an online class imposes a negative impact on the quality of the education
provided, management of online courses should assure that each class contains a maximum of 19
to 20 students (Qiu, Hewitt & Brett, 2012). While a very few numbers of students will not be
cost-effective for the administrators, greater class size will make the educator unable to pay
attention to the improvement of each and every student. Apart from restricting the number of
students per class, other strategies that can be implemented includes pre-distribution of rubrics an
improving the online traffic management. This improvement will enable the students to reach
their educator more quickly and easily in case of any query.

3REVISING AND ADDING EVALUATION
References
Jain, P., Kothari, P., & Thakurta, A. (2012). Differentially private online learning. In Conference
on Learning Theory, 1-24.
Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R., & Baki, M. (2013). The effectiveness of online and blended
learning: A meta-analysis of the empirical literature. Teachers College Record, 115(3), 1-
47.
Qiu, M., Hewitt, J., & Brett, C. (2012). Online class size, note reading, note writing and
collaborative discourse. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative
Learning, 7(3), 423-442., doi:10.1007/s1412-012-9151-2