I like to assess the students when we are in our lab environment. As the students are seeing what we have discussed in class in use, I find it a good time to review with them the material that lead up to the hands on experience.
Hi Greta- Oh my - that is a VERY long class! From your post you are managing it well with frequent breaks and lots of variations in your delivery. Great work! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Hi Paul - Thanks for your post to the forum. Yes, classes that are so short really present a challenge. As you mention, getting that feedback before and after is essential! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Out courses are only six weeks in length, so using formative and summative assessments provide feedback in a very short time frama. Both types of assessments are short in length and occure frequetnlt. The quick feed back helps to reach the struggling students in the current class and provide feedback to increase the students' understanding.
I agree. Sometimes a lecture can get so long. I teach a class that is 3 hours and 40 minutes long! Teaching a class that long means that I need to have breaks and use different teaching styles / aids otherwise the students minds start drifting.
I am just starting my teaching career and I find all the comments helpful and will try different techniques that have been mentioned. Thanks everyone!
we do cross word puzzles and this help review course content and this help with testing and scores.
Hi Gerald - Thanks for your post to the forum. That's why I love using CATs - it gives me immediate daily feedback so I know how to navigate the next day in class instead of proceeding down the same dead-end. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
This is a great opportunity for me to get a good idea, where we are as a class. It allows me to make possible changes of my style. It also allows me to make sure the students are grasping the material that they have been instructed on.
HI Kimberly- Thanks for your post to the forum. You do a terrific job of getting your students to be involved in their own learning! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I have found a great response to Minute Papers and Student Generated Tests. In both cases, I can assess the general level of content knowledge and rework my own lessons to incorporate areas that need to be covered again or in a different manner. When students create the test questions, I also see that they reach to challenge each other - and therefore themselves. Often we will create tests in teams to see who can do the hardest test - and then I will incorporate topics and questions from each of them. This also allows the students ownership of the material and the class.
Hi Laura- Thanks for your post to the forum. I think that you will be very pleased with the feedback that you will get from the Minute Papers. Be sure to share with your students that the changes or additions that you might make are a direct result of their feedback. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I like the Punctuated Lectures and Minute Paper. I will be incorporating the minute paper to get a better understanding if the students understood the lecture or the case studies. I am already using the punctuated lectures, that is working great. But, the minute paper is something quite different and interesting to see what type of information I will be gathering and where I need to make changes.
Hi Denise - Thanks for your post to the forum. An even more effective use of CATs is to have your students complete them at the end of a class. That way you will get your feedback in time to revise your materail for the next class. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Would allow me to gauge how a student is progressing.
By using these techniques at the beginning of class for instance, it is a good way to determine how well the students grasped the previous lecture. Also, it gives the instructor feedback on how they could improve or revise their lecture.
CATs can be used at the beginning and end of classes as a review tool. They are useful to the instructors because they show how well the students understand the material and they are useful to the students because they help show the students what information is most important.
I am going to incorporate the use of a Minute Paper in a few of my classes. The information I gather from the papers I will use as a base of review for the next days class prior to introducing new material. I havn't tried this in the past and I am curious to see how effective it may be to improve the students retention and understanding of the material delivered.
Hi Andrea- Thabnks for your post to the forum. Good point about being able to use a verbal form of CATs. Although it would eliminate the anonymity aspect of CATs - it does still give you immediate feedback. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I think that this is a very important and useful tool for the Instructor as it keeps the communication open throughout the entirety of the course. I really like the Minute Paper, it is fast, easy and will help gage the students progress on a daily basis.This can also ecome an oral exercise vs a written.
