InBerkeley

Inside Higher Ed has a fascinating report on how Robert Reich, professor of public policy at Berkeley and a former Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, found an innovative way to keep enrollment in his popular course on Wealth and Poverty up, despite the University of California’s budget cuts.

The cuts meant that Reich’s course could only have six teaching assistants, rather than his usual nine. That meant that he could only handle 300 students, instead of last year’s 440. But Reich wanted to deliver his course to as many students as possible. What to do? Reich’s answer: split the course in two. Have one course with all the support and breakout sessions enabled by TAs. Have another course that’s the Lite version, in terms of student/faculty interaction:

In one class, worth four units, students would have the traditional lectures with Reich and break-out discussion groups with TA’s. In a second class, worth only two units, students would attend the Reich lectures without the additional break-out sessions or the same level of coursework. Students in the lecture-only class will still receive exams, which will be graded by less expensive readers, but they won’t write essays graded by TA’s.

It’s clearly not ideal, but Reich’s innovative thinking is one of the small efforts that should help the university through its current budgetary woes.

Photo from House Committee on Education and Labor on Flickr

Lance Knobel University