Hi John - you are doing a great job at keeping your students actively involved. Great work!-Susan
I try to break up the long class periods by having a time of lecture followed by a hands-on lab, followed by a break, followed by a Review Questions session, etc. Keeping it mixed up with a lot of different activities and giving the students every opportunity to ask questions and answer them as well. This gives me a better understanding of what they have grasped and what I need to spend more time on or go back and explain it from a different perspective.
I would like to do this in an online law class that I am teaching. How could I do this online? Thank you!
I fully agree. I review the assesments from each class to see how the students are comprehending and how I am doing in presenting the material in the best way. IT becomes pretty easy to tell where modifications need to be made.
Hi Brian - Thanks for your post to the forum. It really is a great idea to, as you mention, stop occasionally to check for understanding. Often students hesitate to interrupt lectures or demos with questions. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
During the class time we stop during the production or lecture and discuss things further and then do a Q&A session to check levels of comprehension and understanding. This seems to work very well and students learn from other students as well as the instructor.
It helps you as the instructor to understand if their is a disconnect in the information that you are deliviering and the information the students are learning.
Short quizzes or essay questions can give the instructor a feel how much of the content the students are actually comprehending. The instructor can evaluate these assignments and tailor future lessons to cover the material that students find most troublesome.
Lori
Hi Erin- Thanks for your post to the forum. The Minute Paper, as well as some of the other CATs, are great tools. I know that you will find them useful. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Hi Kirk- Thanks for your post to the forum. I so agree- as instructors we have a duty to constantly evaluate how effectively we are teaching.
It tells me they are learning the material. It is interesting that I can teach a course once and get a certain out-come and then teach it again with the same materials/activities/tests and get a completely different out-come. What changed.....the students! We are learn differently and therefore the instructor must constantly evaluate their teaching methods.
I am a new instructor and really like the idea of the minute paper. Sometimes I feel the students are drifiting off and not listening to the material being presented. By implementing the minute paper I will be able to get a better idea of what they are comprehending and what I need to review again, not to mention breaking up the class time from lectures.
We use CATs when evaluating student skills in clinic. We're able to quickly evaluate their abilities and give quick feedback to further develop their skills. Students generally take the feedback and try to improve on what they already know.
Hi Jim - Thanks for your post to the forum. You have given us a perfect example of the necessity of using CATs. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I use various forms of CATS during my once a week evening classes to help me change the focus of my teaching to what my students need. My class is 4 hours long and we only meet once a week so I really need to know what my students need additional help and information with as soon as possible. Without using some form of CATS I might not be (probably would not be)giving my students all the information they need to be successful in my classes and ultimately in the work force.
I have found that the only way that works for me is to use some form of CATS to get the feedback that I need to assist my students in gaining the maximum of amount of knowledge and skills that they will need in order to succeed in their chosen career.
I believe students must be responsible for their own learning. The One Minute Summary gives them the opportunity to state what they know and ask questions to fill in the gaps that were missed. The fail-safe is you as the instructor see what they know and then you can fill in the gaps the student doesn't identify.
I think by having them perform hands on skills in class will show me if they are truely catching on to the skills needed for the job. Also having them write a paper telling what they have learned in class, can show me if I need to approach them in a different learning style.
I agree - short CATs get the ball rolling - inform the level of knowledge that the student is learning, and is quick to review so everyone is on the same learning page.
They enable me to gauge progress and provide absorbable feedback.
