A quest for a cheaper, better college course, sometimes in a bigger class

By Nick Anderson. Many colleges struggle with high failure rates in large undergraduate courses. But the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and others have learned that bigger classes sometimes get better results, and at lower cost. The essential step is to change how the big classes are taught. This discovery emerged from a recent wave of redesigned college courses in Maryland, an initiative the state plans to expand, drawing on a $22 million higher education enhancement fund the legislature approved this month. Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) has embraced the idea. The initiative coincides with a national movement to improve teaching. Colleges are absorbing lessons from the online education boom, including the growth of massive open online courses, or MOOCs. And some professors are “flipping” their classrooms to provide more content to students online and less through standard lectures. Read more...