The Skillful Teacher

Assigning Students to Small Groups
It is not uncommon for teachers to have to teach thirty or forty stu-
dents in an online course. In a face-to-face environment this may
not seem like such a large class, but online it is overwhelming,
requiring multiple postings to thirty or forty individuals. Given such
a large class size, it is essential to assign students to smaller, more
manageable groups for many of the interactive opportunities online.
For example, the instructor can divide a class of forty into five
groups to make chat work. Alternatively, students can assign them-
selves to a group discussing a topic (from a list suggested by the
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teacher) that interests them. If all the students opt for only one or
two topics, the instructor obviously has to intervene to distribute
students more equitably.
Posting messages on an asynchronous board works best if there
are no more than ten or twelve students per group. Though it might
seem best to maintain the same groups for all forms of discussion, it
is actually rather stimulating and broadening (and only a little con-
fusing) for students to be assigned to one group for the asynchro-
nous discussion board and a different group for live chat. However
it is done, students should know when they are to participate in
their groups and what their individual roles are. The responsibility
for facilitating small-group discussion can be rotated so that each
member of the group has this opportunity at some time during the
course. The instructor usually suggests how to do this and checks in
occasionally to ensure this is happening.