Large classes pose particular challenges for professors and students, from getting to know one another to maintaining order.

The average lower division class size is about 70 students, and for upper division, about 39, according to the campus's Office of Resource Management and Planning Web site. But many classes are much larger, and that size brings with it challenges for instructors and students alike.

For example, mathematics lecturer Lawrence Marx this quarter is teaching Math 16B with 195 students. Having taught such large classes for two decades now, he sees a couple of problems. First, he often cannot answer all of his students' questions in class — the sheer volume is the issue. Secondly, he has noticed a higher prevalence of cheating and misbehavior in his larger classes.

"I think there are more discipline problems, like talking in class or reading the student newspaper," Marx said. "They do things they wouldn't normally do in a small class."

He explained that because homework graders for large classes have little time to grade each paper, the quality of the grading suffers and, as a result, the students fail to get valuable feedback from having their homework graded. For this reason, and in view of the added burden of collecting homework in large classes and the additional expense to the department, he no longer gathers homework in large classes.

In an effort to counter such problems, the administration is offering more freshman seminars to "personalize" the classroom experience for students and professors. Beyond this, how do instructors make the best of a less than ideal situation?

Liz Applegate, a senior lecturer in nutrition, has an answer. Applegate has been teaching the most popular course on campus — Nutrition 10, Discovery and Concepts — for almost 20 years. The class meets in the newly opened Life Sciences lecture hall, which holds more than 500 students.

She does not consider large classes to be a problem. Rather, she said, one can see it in a positive or negative light.

"A lot of professors don't like to teach a large class, but I enjoy and love the number of students," she said. "I look forward to sharing information with so many people."

Applegate, like other successful instructors, works hard to maintain a personal connection in her classes. She makes herself available to chat with every one of her students each quarter — that's more than 2,000 students per year.

"It's a challenge, but it's worth it," she said.

Jim Biardi, who teaches introductory biology, also thinks the instructor-student connection is important. His 330-student Biological Sciences 1B class has 15 teaching assistants in total, all of whom are available through office hours. Biardi also consults with students during his own office hours or through e-mail.

"We try to be as available as possible," Biardi said.

Susan Keen, an introductory biology lecturer, admits that a large class presents challenges — like connecting with students — but adds that the environment can have its advantages.

"In a large classroom you're always going to have some people who are really up with it," she said, "and those students can bring up the rest of the class. They give the rest of the class something to shoot for."

Keen, who received a 2006 Academic Federation Excellence in Teaching Award, will lead a seminar this fall through the Teaching Resources Center on teaching large classes. She said the discussion will focus on techniques for fostering interaction among so many people.

The center offers several services for instructors looking to get a better handle on their large classes. Lecturers can get their classes videotaped and analyzed, they can meet with teaching consultants for lecturing advice or they can opt for a mid-quarter interviews in which center staff members ask the instructor's students what they like and do not like about the class.

Mikaela Huntzinger, the center's coordinator for teaching assistants and faculty programs, says more instructors could ask her unit for help.

"In my opinion, these services are underused," Huntzinger said. "We don't get that many requests for consultation, and we could handle plenty more requests."

The center awarded Applegate and her head teaching assistant, Sandra Sammaron, a grant in April to put together a teaching manual to help teaching assistants and other instructors handle their large classes. The manual should be finished by winter quarter.

The Teaching Resources Center and other campus departments offer so many resources to instructors facing daunting class sizes, because even the most experienced lecturers can use a bit of help managing their classes.

"I get a lot of support from the administration, the nutrition department, and ReproGraphics," Applegate said. "It takes everyone to make this class work."

But there is nothing quite like a smaller class.

"In a small class, I feel like I'm being talked to more as opposed to a large class, where the professor never makes eye contact," said fourth-year biochemistry student Dave Dranow. "I feel much more at ease asking a question in a smaller class."