It helps me to see how well the material is getting across to the students.
Hi Simon- Thanks for your post to the forum. Application assesment is really important as our students move on to their careers. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Hi Joshua- Thanks for your post to the forum. CATs will also help you to avoid moving on to new frontiers before previous groundwork has been grasped. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Like many instructors I teach long (4 hour) block classes. I think CAT's are a great idea to help me break up the class and help keep both me and my students focus on learning not just plowing through the material for four hours.
we use hands on techniques and lab work to ensure working knowledge of material
Hi Laura - What sort of daily or weekly assessments do you use? Do the students get feedback from those? Best wishes - Susan
I think it's very important to let students know how they are doing. Around the mid-quarter mark, I let students know individually how they are doing in the class.
Hi Vicki - Thanks for your post to the forum. Are the paragraphs that you have your students write submitted anonymously? Often we learn more about what students do and do not know that way. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I like to ask students to write a short paragraph on what they learned so far in a specific class or chapter we are covering. I then review their responses and any questions they submit and prepare my final instruction accordingly.
Hi Garry - Thanks for your post to the forum. When we see the "Deer in the Headlight" response it is essential that we begin to ask questions before procedding on to new material. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Hi Garry- Thanks for your post to the forum. Yes, I agree - our role is to constantly evaluate how well our students are learning and what we need to do to constantly improve our teaching. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Having students apply what they are learning to a case study can give you information on what content and/or process they understand, and what I need to elaborate on, or discuss further. They can be useful in giving feedback to students by analyzing their problem solving of a case study, and other alternatives. There might be trends in the class that show a misunderstanding the several students share that can be cleared up at the group level as well.
I look more for physical response to the course material being presented. Classroom questions and tests are the end result of how well the class a whole picked up the information being presented. The tell-tell signs of possible communication failure between the instructor and class is what I call the “deer in the headlight responseâ€. The general makeup of every class is different not only in how they receive information, but what vehicles a instructor will use to connect with that given class. Classroom results are a never ending evaluation of instructor performance and course subject matter
Yes, pausing for a question helps students put on their "thinking caps"..It also keeps them alert because they never know when the lecture is going to stop or a question/activity for the group.
Hi Diane- I liked your take on CATs -that the info we get from them gives us two dimensional information. What do the students need to do and what do we need to do. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
They should provide some indication of how engaged the students are. If I ask them to write about what they have been thinking about over the past two minutes, I may get some answers that aren't - at least at first glance - related to what we've been talking about. If there are quite a few answers like this, we could have a conversation about how to stimulate engagement. It's a two-way street.
I have found that especially in long classes CATs really help the students focus. I have them use 1 min paper, write 2 things they learned, explain a concept to a partner, etc. I try to make sure we summarize the main themes at the end. I also sometimes end class with write 1-2 questions you still have regarding today's matterials or start class with write 1 thing you learned & 1 thing that is still confusing from today's reading. Any other ideas would be great.
Hi Mike- Thanks for your post to the forum. I liked your example of using CATs in the online environment. Thanks for sharing. Susan
The only way I can think of to use a CAT in an online, pre-canned class is to ask to student to write a brief summary of their thinking and the design choices they made for a specific project.
Something like, “Write an outline in bullet form that outlines your process step by step as you completed your project. Think about the problems that occurred and whether it was a skill issue such as a software problem, or if it was a creative breakdown.†“ i.e It was very late when I began my assignment. Maybe I should plan my schedule to allow me to work several days ahead of the deadline.â€
An instructor can utilize CATs to break up the class time so that all the students remain engaged.
It also allows instructors to see how students are progressing in a way that will not trigger test or grade anxiety.
