Our new Dean (former Sociology professor) is
rattling the saber about increasing class sizes.
Biology offers laboratory courses with every one
of its courses for the bio major. We have historically
limited enrollment to 15 students per class...some
have even fewer (Electron Microscopy =3D 5).
Our new assistant professor has proposed an
entomology course with laboratory with n=3D15 to
fit in with our traditions (past practice). The
Dean refuses to approve the new course unless we
put the class size up to 24.
My question is, does anyone know of special
defenses for limiting lab size to lower numbers
in the case of an entomology course? The obvious
ones of increased faculty/student contact, the
higher ratio of essay and thought questions on
exams, the improved chance for independent research
questions in the lab, and so on all fall on deaf
ears. The safety concerns seem less obvious than
for, say, biochemistry/biotechnology courses.
Thanks for any ideas you might have that we can
argue with our Dean.
ross
_______________________________________________________________
Ross Koning | koning at ecsu.ctstateu.edu
Biology Department | http://koning.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/
Eastern CT State University | phone: 860-465-5327
Willimantic, CT 06226 USA | fax: 860-465-4479
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