Barry I agree with the pretesting throughout our program. On our campus we have different instructors that might teach students before you get them in your class. So pretesting has helped me a lot to see if any major reviewing of the things that should have been taught in a previous class still needs any clarifying.
Lydia,
Great! Pretesting can help narrow the focus of a class as the result of pertinent prior knowledge the class cohort possesses. Each class will be a bit different, and one class may have more focus on some topics than a prior class did. Pretesting is a great help and benefit to the instructor in planning how best to reach their students in a given class.
Barry Westling
maricar,
Pretesting can help in many ways, including the method you describe. Although students are being assessed the benefit is most helpful to the instructor.
Barry Westling
Since adding pretesting entry exams to admissions process, this has given us a better understanding of the quality of student that will be in my program. The testing is a great indication of the type of student you will be trying to instruct. Again upon entering each surgical class the student is given a pre test of the contents of the previous surgical class to see which skills need to be revisited.
Lauren,
Clickers are great, in that they promote participation, are annoymous, and support instant anaylysis by students of an answer may be correct or incorrect.
Barry Westling
Pretext is really helpful to serve as a baseline if student reads the topic or syllabus before coming to school and help the teacher check where to focus more on a certain topic
In my class, we incorporated an assesment tool called clicker review. This gives pre-test questions so I can poll how the classes learning is going. That way I can modify what we need to review before the test.
Travis,
Right. Pretesting recognizes that students come to us at all different levels. This is a great tool to help identify how best we can help our students.
Barry Westling
Rodney,
I don't always pretest. But when I do, the information is always a helpful adjunct to tweaking my class for maximum learning effectiveness.
Barry Westling
Pretesting helps me to get a feel of the new class and understand their knowledge base. This helps me to determine if I need to do a review of materials or how advance I can start.
Of course. Having a knowledge baseline of your students allows you to recognize where to start and which students may struggle and require additional help. It will also identify which students will be available to help fellow students.
William,
Pretesting can be whatever and however the instructor wants to structure it. A pretest could be only a couple questions. As to managing the "grading", some instructors might (anonymously) use the pretest as an open class assignment, and all might benefit from what information is obtained. Instructors are creative folks and I'm sure there are ways to work in a few extra minutes - if the instructor sees value in the exercise.
Barry Westling
I'm sure pretesting would help me immensely in my English classes, yet each class I teach is four hours long and usually comes with adult learners with a wide variety of skill sets. How would I go about pretesting during the first half-hour or hour of the very first class, for example, analyzing those pretests quickly, and then slice and dice instruction without teaching to the lowest functioning student?
Maureen,
Right. It helps in planning and making adjustments to our predetermined plan in order to meet the student need.
Barry Westling
Pretesting allows you to know where the students are and where they need to go. It helps you plan your education for the course
Lawrence,
I don't always pretest. The maiun criteria I use is to what degree I have information regarding level of prior knowledge my students have. I never grade the pretests, because the information is really for me. When I do pretest, students usually enjoy the experience.
Barry Westling
This sounds like a great idea.Do you feel this should be done at the start of every class or wait until I feel it is neccessary?
Chad,
Great. Not all instructors see value in the pretest. You do, as do I, and many others, in their pursuit of assisting students do the best they can in their studies.
Barry Westling
I use the pre-test to guage my students progress and ability to understand the material.
Darlene,
Super. The pretest provides information about prior learning, and allows a teacher the opportunity to make the needed adjustments to make their class more meaniningful their students.
Barry Westling
