PreTest
Using pretest materials will help you already gain an understanding of how the students will respond.
Laurie,
Very interesting. I believe some students might benefit quite a bit from this exercise. And, assuming it's not graded, probably no student would object.
Barry Westling
I recently started giving the students the course midterm on the first day of class. This helped me to see current knowledge about the material to be covered as well as, let the students have insight on what the course will focus on.
Joyce,
Most instructors who do pretesting find the results interesting. Either less prior knowledge than expected or more prior knowledge than expected. In either case, pretesting provides a basis for tweaking the planned lessons to better suit the current cohort of students.
Barry Westling
Pretesting sounds like an interesting way to learn about your students knowledge base. I generally discuss the students jobs and experience with them when they first start. I also like to get a feel for their educational background. But I have not thought of actually doing a pretest in the subject. It is an interesting way to assess their knowledge base. I may try to come up with some fun pretest for my more difficult studies. Thank you.
David,
With everyone facing time constraints, how nice to be able to plan wisely, knowing students may need more assistance in one area, and less emphasis in another.
Barry Westling
I use pre-tests for certain classes, this gives me a little insight into the student knowledge base and offers me direction on how much basic information I need to present as compared to a class that may be a little more advanced and may be able to go over basic information a little faster. Keeps me from assuming too much.
Kristin,
Sure, any edge we can obtain to better prepare to instruct students is beneficial. Add the pretest can be a relatively quick way to get an overall idea where the class level of prior knowledge lies.
Barry Westling
