The Different Types of Classrooms and Class Sizes in Canada

Introduction:

What are Canadian classrooms like? Are they different from your home country’s post-secondary classrooms – are they bigger or smaller? This post will help you find out so that you can plan for any differences or similarities. After reading this post you should know exactly what to expect and how to prepare for lecture halls, tutorials, labs and smaller classes, participation, and attendance.

*Glossary located at end of article*

---

Lecture Halls, Tutorials, Labs and Smaller Classes

Commentary by Rebecca Geylikman, 4th year Art-Sci student at the University of Toronto

“Hey guys, in this section of the blog post I will give you a quick overview of the different types of classes and different class sizes that I have experienced during my time at the University of Toronto.

Usually lecture halls for 1st year classes are very large, seating hundreds to thousands of students. The lecture hall shown in the picture

below seats about 2000 students at a time and is

one of U of T’s main 1st year lecture halls.

In lecture halls like these I would highly recommend sitting somewhere in the front rows towards the middle, but this requires arriving early to get a good seat. I recommend this seating even though being directly in front of your professor may be intimidating because it provides the best view of the projector screen and the professors slides, the greatest ability to hear the lecture and it puts you closest to the prof in case you want to ask questions during lecture breaks or after the lecture – oftentimes there are very large lineups for questions! If all the front seats are taken, I recommend sitting in any balcony seats that face the projector screen.”

“As you move into second year and upper year classes, your lecture rooms won’t be quite as large. Second- and third-year classes usually have sizes of about 100 – 500 students, with third year class sizes falling on the lower end of that spectrum. 4th year classes usually have less than 100 students and sometimes less than 50 – this is dependent on how specialized your program and the class are. The medium sized lecture hall pictured on the left is where a 2nd or 3rd year course would take place.

The smaller lecture hall, pictured below on the left, is where 4th year courses take place and any tutorials you may have to accompany your lectures would take place in a room of similar size – maybe with lab equipment added, if the tutorial is for a science course which requires experiments to be performed (see the picture below on the right). Any language or arts courses (ex. cinema studies courses) would also take place in one of these smaller rooms.”

---

Participation and Attendance

Some instructors give marks for attendance and for class participation – check your course outlines or make this a question to ask in the first class! Most missed classes do not require you to inform your professor, especially if the class size is large (50+ students). However, smaller classes, tutorials and lab groups do require you to inform your instructor if you plan to miss class – these types of classes often require a special form to be filled out which declares student illness or the special circumstances that caused you to miss class. You can find these forms on your institutions site or by googling “Verification of Student Illness or Injury/Sick Note/Student Absence Form” followed by the name of your institution.

Find a screenshot of the form used at the University of Toronto below:

Why have attendance/participation marks?

Canadian instructors use different teaching techniques to facilitate student participation and active learning. These teaching techniques include group projects, class discussions, and in class assignments. In order to make sure these class discussions, in class assignments, etc. run smoothly, your prof needs to have a certain level of attendance or a certain number of students physically sit their class - this is where attendance/participation marks come in!

---

Glossary of Terms

• Lecture: An educational talk to an audience, especially to students in a university or college.

• Lecture Hall: A hall for lectures with seats in tiers.

• Tutorial: A period of instruction given by a university or college tutor to an individual or very small group.

• Lab: In many Science and Engineering disciplines students spend considerable parts of their time doing a wide range of practical or laboratory work. Here the learning is very 'hands on' and classes are designed to allow students to practise and develop a wide range of discipline-based techniques and personal skills.

• Professor: A teacher of the highest rank in a college or university.

• TA (Teaching Assistant): A teaching assistant or teacher's aide (TA) or education assistant (EA) is an individual who assists a teacher with instructional responsibilities and often instructs small class sections called tutorials, that accompany the main lecture content.

• Instructor: A person who teaches something.

• Googling: To search for information about (someone or something) on the Internet using the search engine Google.

-Rebecca Geylikman

Life as an international student offers exciting new experiences. But, this transitional period of change can also present a significant challenge for even the most talented and well-supported of students. Our guide helps international students learn the skills, knowledge, resources and where to find them to transition more easily, as they begin the next stage of their educational journey. The International Student Guide provides blogs, videos and a resource directory that students can use to navigate their Canadian transition experience; from pre-arrival to post-graduation job hunting - based on the experience of current Canadian post-secondary students.

Learn more at https://studentsofferingsupport.ca/