Course sizes to grow in 2010

Less money means more problems for the class registration process this spring.

As a result of the decrease in university income and subsequent budget cuts, the Registrar's office and university deans have been asked to review class registration and eliminate some poorly attended course sections.

"We're doing everything we can to balance the financial realities with delivering the best education that we can, and we're trying to be as fair as possible to everybody in these decisions," said Michael McCann, Ph.D., associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

McCann, who is overseeing the review of mathematics and natural sciences among other course sections, is among the faculty who has been asked to tighten up course offerings.

While the faculty as a whole continues to deal with the omission of pay raises this year, McCann said that the budget cuts have enabled the university to avoid laying off employees.

"We have to look at ways to basically continue the operation and be financially prudent," he said. "That decision, made in part to not lay people off, was also made in part to not lay people off, was also made in part to balance the budget given the fact that we've got less revenue coming in from all of these different sources."

The review begins when registration for certain courses is closed, leaving the class at 12 students or less. At this point, the registrar works with the dean of the appropriate college to determine whether or not the course can be cancelled. Previously, class reviews did not occur unless a course finished open registration with eight students or less.

According to McCann and Gerard Donahue, university registrar, cancellations will not be made in situations where students depend on the course to satisfy graduation or major requirements.

"There is certainly a move to more awareness of class size in light of the fiscal environment that we find ourselves in and the economy in general," said Donahue. "But I perceive no movement away from the fact that students have to be able to finish their graduation requirements on time; that's far and above a higher level consideration."

The cancellation process is made increasingly complex by issues concerning necessary equipment and the nature of the course itself. McCann explained that science classes that require the use of instruments will be kept at low levels to ensure that students receive adequate time to work with the technology.

Other courses, such as those in the studio art section, are already capped at numbers lower than what is necessary to trigger the review. Such courses will continue to be offered and are exempt from cancellation. Still more may be exempt due to special circumstances surrounding the novelty of the course. McCann stressed that each situation is unique and that each class will require a separate evaluation before a decision is reached.

"We're still running a lot of classes that are what I would consider relatively small, and we're going to continue to do that," said McCann. "Our target is having an average section size of about 28."

Although the administration maintains that that some small course cancellations are necessary, many students report feeling more comfortable in an environment with fewer classmates.

Bill Taylor, '11, an accounting major, experienced classes of various sizes in his two and half years at St. Joe's.

"It's been a mix; in some classes there were way too many and other ones have been really comfortable," he said. "When there were less people in the room, it felt more of like a personal experience. You have a better interaction with the teacher and you feel more comfortable about sharing personal experiences."

Donahue recognized the potential for the class cuts to increase congestion in other course sections. With less class slots in the curriculum, students affected by the class cancellations could end up crowding other classes very near their limits.

"We try to balance that [class congestion] as well," said Donahue. "There are some cases of overcrowding. That's a problem, that's a significant issue; we do our best to address those when they are brought to our attention."

Donahue said that the university is interested in using classrooms to their full capacity while maintaining appropriately sized classes conducive to learning environments. "I think the university is committed to educating students and, not just arbitrarily raising class sizes, but doing so in a fashion that makes pedagogical sense," he said. "And if there is a fiscal component to that, that has to be considered as well."

The review for the spring semester will not begin until 2010 when transfer students have had an opportunity to register.

In addition to the level of class organization that will result from review, the registrar's office has also had to deal with a defective web portal this semester. The difficulties the Office of Information Technology has experienced with MySJU became a main area of concern for the registrar, as class registration depended heavily on the efficiency of the web portal.

According to Donahue, the Hermes Web site, which has provided access to the student services tab, has operated quickly and efficiently.

"We had no complaints about response time; regarding the alternate methodology that we provided, I think it was rather quick," he said. "If it had gone through the portal, we would have had mass unhappiness. IT was feverishly trying to solve the issue. I've never seen them as stumped as they were."

As long as the recession continues, the registration process will continue to be riddled with obstacles. While renovations to the main campus buildings on the Maguire Campus continue to be delayed, the lack of classroom inventory remains a problem for course scheduling. McCann identified three major problems that have contributed to the stresses of registration.