1. Measuring the transition to large classes: learning and assessment in business education Rick Bates, Justin To, Maury Bredahl and John Cranfield Department of Agricultural Economics & Business University of Guelph

2. Motivation  AE&B teaches six of the core business courses at U of G –History of AGEC*2220, Financial Accounting  Large enrolment (~650), small section sizes (~50 students), many sections; case studies –Resource intensive  Enrolment growth precludes current form (unless resource constraints overcome) –Move to large section sizes  How to maintain quality & positive attributes of small sections?

3. Projected Enrollment in Core AE&B Business Courses 2310 2937 3273 3498

4. Acquired Knowledge Assessment  Congruent with any changes in mode of delivery is an effort to enhance quality of knowledge acquisition  Develop course specific assessments that measure knowledge acquisition, student perceptions and identify areas of further improvement  Pre & post test assessments

5. Knowledge Acquisition & Perception Assessments  Pre-test –Beginning of semester –Curriculum knowledge (could include retention questions) & perception questions  Post-test –End of semester –Curriculum knowledge (same as pre-test questions), perception & Universal Instructional Design (UID) questions

6. Empirical Analysis  Within a semester: –Change in knowledge based score: measure of knowledge acquisition –Change in perception based score: does course change student’s perception of business/ commerce/major?  Between semesters: –Change in knowledge acquisition? Perceptions? –UID score – compare across semesters; how do changes affect student’s ability to perform?

7. Results – Pre-test  Average pre-test knowledge score: 47% –No SD in score across majors & semester level –SD in score based on exposure to HS accounting –More HS accounting the higher the score

8. Results – Post-test  Average post-test knowledge score: 70% –SD in score across majors –SD in score based on exposure to HS accounting. Same pattern as with pre- test

9. Results – Acquired Knowledge  Change in pre & post test knowledge scores = 23 percentage point increase –Difference significantly different from zero –Not SD across major, semester level & past enrollment in HS accounting  BUT – change in scores smaller the more exposure to HS accounting Watch the scale!

10. Relative Changes in Perceptions Question:Change in score (post-pre) This course has been pivotal to my understanding of business -0.369 This course has been important to my understanding of material relevant to my major -0.386 This course has no bearing on my ability to solve business problems 0.167 This course has been important to my career development/aspirations -0.302

11. Results - Perceptions  These results show from pre to post, perceptions of the class changed to be more negative  Results were statistically significant  The question into the future: How will these shifts in perceptions from pre to post change as we transition from small to large classes?

12. Our Department’s Challenge  Balance increased undergraduate enrollment with increasingly limited teaching resources –How to preserve quality of teaching?  Scholarship in teaching program –Multi-year program –Provide resources and expertise –Complement and enhance existing quality of teaching

13. This Fall & Winter  Change in mode of AGEC*2220 & AGEC*2230 –Continue with pre & post test assessments –Does change in mode affect knowledge acquisition and/or perceptions?  Propose to implement pre & post tests in AGEC*3310 & AGEC*3320 –Follow cohort (from 2220 and 2230) through –Baseline for subsequent changes  Continue these tracking efforts into the future

14. Thank you! Questions?