Hi Glenn - Thanks for your post to the forum. Giving your students the same assessment "before" and then "after" is an excellent idea! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I like to start a course with a pre test and then somewhere near the end give the students the same test. In this way they get to see what knowledge then have attained.It can be a confidence booster.
Hi Daniel - Asking students to relate what they had problems with is an effective CAT, especially if it is anonymous. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I would provide a CAT asking the students what subject/content they had problem to understand. I would cover in more details during the following day class.
I could incorporate by having the students fill out a form that will ask them what technique/content they did had difficulty/did not understand. The next day, I would cover more in depth these techniques/content.
i have found that most of the evaluation feedback of the instructor is worthless. students very rarely coment on valed subjects.
Hi Sharon- Thank for your post to the forum. I'm glad that you found the CAT info useful! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Hi Joan - Thanks for your post to the forum. You are doing a great job of monitoring the "pulse" of your students! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Using classroom Assessment Techniques will allow me to skip material that everyone understands and go onto areas that are more complicated. I do this with surveys in my lecture classes. For my online classes I use polls to see where everybody’s comfort level is. I want to ensure my students are learning something from the classes.
One method I will begin to use in my classroom is stopping the class and asking them to reflect on what they were doing or thinking about. Too many times when I am teaching a class and the material is difficult to understand the students drift off. By having them assess themselves to see if this is helpful or hurtful would be a great help. This would keep their attention.
I think one of the best time to assess your students is out in the lab environment. Watching the students but the theory to use in practical work situations. But you also need to make sure during the theory that the students understand and comprehend the theory or else they will be lost in lab.
Dear Garry(or should I say Deer),
This is laugh out loud. I have seen this response in the classroom and now, appropriatly, have a name for this syndrome. Of course the maturity and basic skills of students' in each class make a big difference to comprehension and retention.
I printed the pages identifying the different CATs. This is so helpful to see which will best fit the time frame and best assess what will be expected of the students' learning. Thanks for this added tool. Sharon
Our courses are so fast paced, 20 days per module, the minute paper will espedcially be a beneficial tool after lectures to see if the students understood main topics and/or what got missed. I think this will be a good feedback tool.
When I read the info about the Minute Paper, my mind started raising with new ideas. I teach culinary arts so this is up my ally. I woudl imagen I would as the students: "How well do you know Whipped Potatoes?" Have them rate themselves in knowledge and then test that by having them write down everything they know about whipped potatoes in one minute.
This could be funnn.
That seems to also work well for me.
Hi Sarah- Thanks for your post to the forum. Your idea of using ungraded polls after lectures is excellent! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I could give the students a series of ungraded poll questions after a lecture to see if they understood the material.
By using CATs you will be able to see the degree of your students learning and be able to adjust your teaching techniques to fit their learning needs. I like to utilize the minute paper to gage my students understanding of the material covered.
Hi Herjit - Thanks for your post to the forum. Getting students to see the relevance of what they are learning by discussing scenarios is great! It also increases retention of the material. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
One way I often assess student progress in class is by randomnly engaging them in a conversation of scenario relevant to the topic discussed in class. I found this provides me a great feedback on how students are progressing in class. Needless to say, it also helps me to get the class back just in time before they drift off in space.
