Week 6 - Large Classes: An Endangered Species?

When I imagine a large class, the first picture that comes to my mind's eye is that of the 19thC. classroom, either big or small, but all desks screwed down onto the floor facing the black chalkboard; and all learners doing the same thing at the same time following the teacher's steps. The more demand of workforce at the factories, the more need of skilled people. So, schools came into the scene to favour that social need.

No doubt, technology has changed since those days; and no doubt, technology makes culture change, and culture makes people change. People do not communicate as they used to in the 19C, or many do not even need to go to work as they used to because work can be done ubiquitously. So, why do we still see at school many students doing the same thing and following the teacher's steps?

Although, a 21st C classroom might look unchanged for some people because desks still face a board, either wooden or digital; and classes follow the teacher's steps towards a single product; nowadays classrooms are adopting new educational tecnologies in an attempt not to become extinct. Classrooms are slowly becoming networked with other faraway classrooms, with distance audiences that work cooperatively and collaborativelly in this new globalised world.

We can see that large classes will continue to exist because new educational technologies are paving the way for that. However, these large classes are very different from those in the last century. It is not a question of size then, but a question of manner that will guarante their survival. Schools need to adopt and adapt to the change before they and not the large classes become obsolete.