Hi Kelly- Thanks for your post to the forum. I hope that you find CATs to be useful with your students. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
This would be very useful for my night classes. They are 4 hours long. This would provide a break and show me if the students are staying focused and understanding the topic.
These are very useful because they let the instructor know if they need to explain a topic further. I like the idea of having the students write one thing they learned. This helps the instructor understand what students felt was important and what new information the students have grasp during that class period.
I am planning on using CATs as a way to check understanding and mastery of units. I now use unit quizzes online but perhaps CATs are a better way to get a connection. For example one that I have tried is using a weekly journal entry instead of a quiz.
Hi Gary - Thanks for your post to the forum. Your assessment plan is excellent. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Hi Emily - Thanks for your post to the forum. I think that you will indeed find the Minute Paper useful. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I like the idea of the minute paper. It would give me a quick idea of how much the students have learned and any outstanding questions that they may have about the material that was covered in class that day.
I quiz every week on the prior week material to keep students in review and study mode. I give homework assignments that directly coordinate with the study material to reenforce the taught material. I give a final comprehensive exam to evaluate the overall retention of material of the class.
Hi Jeff - thanks for your post to the forum. CATs are especially effective if the instructor gives a little summary of what they yielded and how he/she will be tweaking(if necesary) to address the students comments. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I also like the way it can be used to break up a long lecture, make sure the students are getting the info. Them knowing that the instructor is goning to do this could help them to keep their focus.
Hi Isabel - I'm glad to hear that the CATs are working for you! Best wishes - Susan
I have actually already began to implement this strategy into my daily teaching. I alwasy ask the students to write some thoughts about what they have learned in the class that they found interesting. then i aske them to write 1 or 2 questions. The following class I put all the questions together and give it to them. They spend a few miniutes answering these questions and we take them up in class. They keep them for study notes. So far it seems to be working well.
Isabel
CATS is something I am not familiar with. I found this concept very interesting. I normally evaluation by asking Q&A during the review aspect of the material prior to an exam. But I really like the idea of developing simple nongraded assessments that can help me determine what they learned without the pressure of testing. I believe this is very beneficial, not only for the instructor, but for the student to reevaluate where they are in their retainment of information.
Hi Sandy - Thanks for sharing some good ideas on using CATs! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
You can incorporate a CAT at the start of each class, especially if you only meet once a week, to refresh the students memory on what was covered the week before. It can also be used at the end of class to see if the students grasped what you were covering that day, and to bring up any areas they might not have understood.
Hi Diana- It is interesting how classes can be so different. The upside is that it requires us to vary our delivery which keeps instructors fresh and constantly learning ourselves. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
this lets me know if students are foll0wing the calss.
Each clss has its own personality and styles of learning. This can help keep current in progress of this particular class.
They help me know my strong and weak areas in the classroom so that I can adjust my teaching style each term to best reach my current students.
In a career college setting, I find it quite easy to offer CATs on a continuous basis though interaction with students. I have found that this is my most informative type of assessment in this particular environment.
