Pretesting for the students benifit.
The class I am a facilitator in gives a pre test the first day of class that is not graded, we then give the students a feed-back sheet showing them how they scored broken down by section's of the test, this feed back guides them to specific areas that they need to study. It also confirms their strong and wek areas an is a great help for them to pass the final exam.
Steve,
I use pretesting with my students as well. I find that the baseline I get on these students is really helpful in my instructional planning and selection.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I use pretests more to gauge students' prior knowledge coming into the class. It is more like a final exam from the prerequisite courses than for the current course.
Angie,
I think you will really like the results you get from pretesting. You will get a baseline that helps you with your instructional planning and the targeting of your instruction to your current students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I have not used this method yet, but I really like the idea. I think I will implement net term.
Wendy,
Good analysis about the use of pretests. Pretests need to fit the teaching style, content, course level, etc.. You are right about them not fitting all courses because they don't. It is a selection process course by course.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I'm of two minds about pretests. I have used them successully on semester-based classes.
But now I am teaching a capstone computer software class to medical assistants and billers and coders. Our classes are four weeks long. The idea is to give them an instroduction into Electronic Health Records before they go on their externships. Very few would have any subject knowledge. I try to lay out the path they will be taking in the class the first day by going over the syllabus very carefully. I'm just not sure a pretest would help them out in this case.
Susan,
I think you will like the results you get from using a pretest. I pretest my students and then we go over the results in class. I don't grade the test so this reduces the pressure on the students. Even though I don't grade them my students have given good thought to their responses and as a result I get a baseline on where my students are at with their prerequisite knowledge.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Tracey,
I use pretesting in my courses for the same reason yo do. I gain insight into my current group of students and gives me a starting point for planning my instructional content.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I had never considered this. It's a great, simple idea to get an overview of where the class is starting out and how we can get them to their end goal.
I feel that a pretest can let you know where your student stands in a course. letting them know up front that it is not graded takes away the anxiety and can relax them in doing their best. I do this in some of my classes and have found it effective
Tim,
Thank you for sharing the value you and your students are getting from the use of pretesting. I use pretesting in my classes and they give me an understanding of where my students are and how I can customize my instruction to support them where they are in their base knowledge. The showing them of what they have learned in twelve weeks is such a valuable tool for their personal growth.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Pretests doesn't really give me a baseline for my students. Most of them are coming into the class with no prior knowledge of the subject. My students are grateful that the grade doesn't count, because all for them fail the test. However,once the test is graded I use it to give my students a review of the material we will cover in the class. My final is very similar to the pretest and the majority of my students do every well on the fianl. It shows them how much they have learned in twelve weeks.
Karl,
I know you are going to like the results you get from using a pretest with all of your classes. Going to make your instructional planning more targeted.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I have a short first day pre-test for one of my classes that I instruct. But I will certainly come up with a better one and also one for my other class that I teach. I will help my focus on certain key areas of the course, based on the evaluation of those pre-test. Thanks
Linda,
I use pretesting in my courses because I want to learn what my students know coming into the class. By learning this I have a baseline from which to do my instructional planning. Which follows the comments you made in the forum about adjustments and customization of content to meet student levels.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Pretesting is very important. It helps to identify what students may already know about the course, or what level you should adjust your teaching so that student will be able to get a clear understanding of the material being taught.
Harriet,
Good way to zero them in on what knowledge they have acquired.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I give my students pretest as well, this aid them in focusing on section's for exam.
Tony,
I am a big fan of using pretesting for the reasons you list. I use them in all of my courses so I can get a baseline on my students and they get an idea of what we are going to be covering in the course. This is a win win for them as well as myself.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
