Planning for Case Based Learning

3. Class size

Sure, it would be great if there were only 15 students in the class, but very few of us have that luxury, especially in beginning courses. 

 In very large classes, it may work best to do case learning in lab or recitation time, when groups are smaller. This is especially important when students are learning how to work together on  cases.

Additional teaching staff can be faculty working in teams, graduate students (if available) and advanced undergraduate teaching assistants. It is possible to break up large classes into smaller groups, but you do need a high tolerance for noise while a couple of hundred students, working in near-neighbor groups, discusses a case.

Some faculty members have established electronic communications so that student case groups can work together on-line. There are many solutions to having students in larger classes do meaningful work in smaller groups. There are several workshop biology/studio science courses whose materials and advice are available on line

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