This is a great look at CATs. I have not seen the literature that seperates CATs as summative and formative, as I have been using them strictly as a formative check for understanding. I noticed that you used a reference to Angelo and Scott in your abstract. I believe that should be Angelo and Cross? I like the idea of adding rigor to Classroom Assessment Techniques. They should not be used just for the sake of using them. In online classes, we are finding that we need to keep the CATs simple to get students to participate in them as well. What are some ways to keep CATs simple enough to get students to participate, but also keep the standard of rigor in place? This is a very interesting article!

Rick

Rick,

Thank you for taking the time to read our paper and share your comments. 

You are correct, the citation should be Angelo and Cross.  I noticed that in the last review/proof read and thought I changed it.  Thank you for highlighting that.

You make a good point, adding rigor to CATs will create additional time used in class and work for the instructor.  My first thought was that this would be useful for non-traditional classes that have compressed calendar time for completion (5-8 weeks) and extended class periods (2-4 hours), as the frequency of contact events is lessened 5-8 vs 25+ for convential clases.  Formative assessments would seem critical.  I believe rigor is still needed in for conventional classes as well.  Asking students if they derstand it a good thing, finding out if they understand is even better in my opinion.

Online classes represent a unique paradigm, for asychronous classes, instructor/student contact can range from severely limited to abundant depending on both the instructor's and individual student's time and inclination to log in and post. 

One way to add rigor to online classes and still add rigor in my opinion would be to model questions after behaviorial based interviewing techniques in business (http://jobsearch.about.com/od/behavorialinterviews/a/behavioral-interview-questions.htm). 

One could formulate a question and ask the students to respond with several examples to demonstrate synthesis.

For example in an online marketing class, instead of asking, "What is market segementation?", one could ask:

What is market segmentation?  Please provide three examples of market segments that Chevy might target.

In marketing students often confuse market segements (groups of consumers) with products, in this case types of vehicles.  This would provide insight into the students synthesis or grasp on this concept.

Obviously, one could vary the rigor and time it takes by asking for more detail for this question.

Does this make sense?
Jason

I think rigor is needed in CATs otherwise, they are merely perception checks.  You have honed in on an interesting issue with the compressed nature of non-traditional programs.  There is a reduction in the frequency of instructor contact.  With only 8 or less sessions, formative assessment should be mandatory. 

Does this change in an online environment?

Hello,

Thank you for looking at my paper and thank you for the thoughtful observations.  I believe the answer for online classes is "it depends".  Online classes are generally asynchronous and that provide the option, but not the certainty of extended contact.  In theory an online instructor could communicate 2 hourse a day over several transcational events if they were so inclined and timing worked out.

I am sorry this is a bit vague, but I think it depends on the enthusiasm of engagement.

Jason

Good job on your CATs paper! I like that you provided some statistics regarding the vast amount of online students. We need to find ways for formative assessment to be successful in the online classroom because it is so different from the traditional setting. Although course objectives and curriculum are the same (or very similar) for both modalities, there are significant differences in how tests and quizzes are administered. It would be helpful to online educators to find ways to assess our students more efficiently, and you provide some great ideas!

Kristen,

Thank you for taking the time to review the paper.  I agreatly appreciate your thoughts and feedback.

jason

Retention and positive course outcomes are the goals for all of us in education. I enjoyed reading your article. You had interesting content. If I may mention a few things. On page 3, second paragraph, the sentence that starts….this study will focus…..the last two words would be more readable if you reverse them and say….which has been historically difficult vs. difficult historically. The last paragraph on that page the sentence starting out…It is also important…..it says "the instructional phase of a teaching" -please omit "a" in front of teaching. Page 6, Data Collection section the 2^nd sentence starts with Th….?

Your study was good. Please provide a few more details-such as you mention "several beginning University Success courses." How many courses were accessed during this study? On page 5, you mention the questions and see Appendix A. I think it would be great to insert the questions in the paper to provide a bit of continuity. On page 6, the paper states how important feedback is-it would be great  offering instructors tips on feedback here & also a few tips on how to create their own CAT's. The references listed are good, but are there ones more current, 1993 & 2001-lots have changed in on-line learning in 20 and 12 years respectively.

For the results portion, the article mentions "non-traditional"…please provide more demographic data on your sample. What to the authors constitutes non-traditional? The results section, would like to see more content on your findings. Can you break down the results more for the reader? What was the breakdown of scores? Overall an interesting read!! My best to you! 

Jason and Philip, I agree with your final comments about the use of CATS. Just because we ask the question does not mean it is appropriate or useful for that module. In my own experiences, I had to try a few different questions/execises before I found one that has been successful in the  assessment process. The problem that I continue to find is students who do not bother to read or respond to the CATS.

Lisa,

Thank you for your specific feedback and recommendation regarding the paper.  I will review them in detail after the discussion period and look to use them to refine the paper.

I greatly appreciate your comments and help.

Jason

Kathleen,

I agree this can be a challenge.  I am amazed at the number of students who sign-up for online classes, in particular, I have had success implementing CATs as "mandatory" part of participation assignments.  I post the CAT with a title such as "CAT - Response Mandatory, All Student must Repsond".  Then I ask them to respond to the CAT answering the question and explaining why the chose the answer they did and why they excluded the others (multiple choice for example).  At the end of the week, I provide the correct answer, with a discussion of the corrent and incorrect answers (why they apply or don't). 

I also 'season' this incentive by suggesting these CATs will better enable the students to address mid-term and final-term quizzes. 

I've found I can garner quite a bit of interest with this mesage.  Although, like the old saying, "you can lead them to water, but you can't make them drink".

Does this make sense?  I hope it helps.

Jason

Rigor or thoroughness involves consistency and accuracy of instruction and feedback, in the online classroom.  Online instructors must be objective and attentive in addition to being scrupulousness during all student interactions.  This is a well thought out article.

Thank you for the feedback Karen.

Excellent information!

This paper was a wonderful piece of work that encourages me to speak out and offer guidance to those around me during times of need.  Your focus on the different techniques that can be utilized in the classroom to enhance student learning and bring forward up to date practices.  Our students find themselves with additional time during the day that tends to be lost when the teacher is unable to come up with a form of learning during these moments.  You mention the One Minute Paper and I wanted to giggle.  The idea behind this is fantastic because not only do our children get excited when they hear of the short term level of writing but our teachers also benefit because they are able to fill up the time toward the end of class when the lesson is completed and the student is conducting a healthy and fulfilling piece of work.

When our teachers are capable of reaching the students because they understand and can see where their students fall in the CAT's, they can achieve higher results with them based on the assessments used.  It is ideal for our teachers to be able to see just where the children are in the field of learning because there is little need to move forward if the student does not have any of the prior knowledge.  At this point a teacher may need to evaluate what approach to take so the student can be brought up to speed.

I will admit that I also enjoyed reading your work based on the writing style.  It appears to be familiar to me and I had a great time reading the information.  Thanks for sharing.

Jason,

I have to agree with the analogy of the horse - it seems that many do not read the syllabus, let alone my announcements and tips for completing assignments. I  had not thought of making the CATS mandatory - I will have to try this.

Thank you.

Michelle,

Thank you for the kind words and feedback.

Jason

Kathleen,

Please let me know how it works for you.  Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

Jason