This was an interesting study.  I would find value in seeing the CAT in question.  nline and Acadmemically I would be curious to how it was constructed and to better understand the challenges, conveying by either online or phone.

I infer that the CAT had something to do with formatting and the GCU Style Guide.  Thanks for sharing.  I think the Body of Knowledge around CATs could use more quantitative research around effectiveness and this is a great start.

Jason

Thanks, Jason! We should definitely add some more detail about the CAT used in the discussion. Great idea.

Great job Ladies! I really enjoyed seeing how verbal CATS can be used to increase the result of the objective successfully. I would like to share one small though. I really like the use of charts as they present a very clear visual for me and I can easily see how the elements for Class Comparison and CAT Effectiveness stand out. One thought I had with respect to the results of the six classes  that the data was collected on, was to have one more chart that would show the number of student's in each class, with the number that was reached and those that were not reached.  For example, the class comparison does not show me all 6 classes. What it shows me is the elements for students in the class (i.e. number of student's that responded to the CAT, number who completed the week one assignment and the number of students who used GCU Style). While it is the same information essentially, it is a consolidated view, or compilation of all classes. I thought it would be helpful to see if there was a significant disparity when presented visually with all 6 classes? This could actually be a small adjustment to the existing chart or a quick addition that would paint a slightly brighter picture?

Lori - That is a great idea! We also hope to continue this research with a larger sample size in the future. Thanks for your comment.

I enjoyed reading about CATS delivered by phone. As the concept is one that many of us do without thinking about it; I feel that putting intention to this task can bring light to the overall effectiveness. I feel that verbal CATS with students increase our communication and personal touch with the non-traditional student. As traditional students in a classroom setting are able to see their instructor smile or nod if they are getting a concept; the online student mainly reads feedback. I believe that connecting a voice to feedback, questioning and assessing allows a more enriching student experience. Moreover, the argument that online education is "impersonal" may be moot when observing effectiveness of combining verbal assessments along with on-verbal assessments. I look forward to possibly seeing further research in this area. Nice job Andrea and Jolene!

Andrea and Jolene, thank you for sharing this approach.  It was interesting to read the synopsis and supporting data.  It was clear that you took into account so many variables to ensure equality among the groups you compared.  One point I noticed was the slight increase in comprehension when a CAT was delivered by phone.  Overall, would you characterize the time to deliver the CAT verbally and assess as:  equal to the time on line, more than the time to deliver using the traditional on-line format or less than the time to deliver using the traditional on-line format?

Overall, I really have enjoyed the open-ended nature of the CAT and appreciate the level of engagement within the classroom.

Thank you very much for sharing this technique.

Yours in Education,

Matt

Hi Andrea and Jolene!

Excellent work!  Your topic is timely and serves as a critical nexus between online learning theory and online student formative assessment.  Although there are mixed views on the impact of personalized multimedia in online education, intuitively improved communication between teacher and learner should help with the learners application of concepts (Mandernach, 2009).

As for suggestions to improve your study, in effect what you performed was a between-group comparison.  As you noted in your limitations, you did not have a control group that would make your study experimental.  Also, in future research, you should identify variables that could limit the generalizability of your results, such as previous success rates of students, gender, age, or technology proficiency.  For example, did technology proficiency play a role in the results?

With all of this stated, your research is especially exciting for the advancement of online education research, as the concept of online interaction continues to be modified and expanded (Moore & Kearsely, 2012).  What specific components of interaction affect teaching and social presences (Garrison, 2011)?  How will these interactions affect successful application of formative assessments online?  Your research cuts across these questions, which makes your research so relevant to online education research.

As an online instructor and online education researcher, I can say your research has the potential to expand our understanding of the type and quality of interaction that affects not only online student assessment but also online student learning.

Keep up the good work!

Dr. Greenberger

References
Garrison, D. R. (2011). E-Learning in the 21st century: A framework for research and practice (2nd ed.). New York: NY: Routledge.

Mandernach, B. (2009). Effect of instructor-personalized multimedia in the online classroom. International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning, 10(3), 1-19.

Moore, M. G., & Kearsley, G. (2012). Distance education: A systems view of online learning (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Great work, Ladies! I really like the discussion regarding whether it is more effective to deliver classroom assessment techniques verbally or non-verbally is more effective. One might initially think that verbal classroom assessment techniques would be more effective. The only issue I foresee with verbal communication is that the student does not have as much time to think of a response. Non-verbally, the student can think about what he or she wants to respond when he or she is ready. In my experiences, I think that some students have difficulties in both the areas of listening and reading. For instance, they are distracted when on the phone with the instructor, or distracted when trying to read online. Therefore, there will always be some students who do not apply themselves.

Beverly, Matthew, Scott and Kristen -

Thank you for your comments!

It does take more time to deliver the CAT vocally rather than in teh DQ forum. This is why we have the instructors deliver the CAT during their welcome call - this way they were not taking more time to make seperate calls.

Personally, I like to incorporate CATs into any phone call I make to a student - missing work calls or calling back to answer a question are great opportunities to do this. It is a bit more time consuming to call all students specifially to deliver the CAT. However, for the students who are struggling - it seems to be worth it.

Great point about the time a student has to think about how they are responding. On the phone the response is required to be immediate... but the feedback is also immediate.

This is great feedback for Jolene and I to consider adding to the discussion portion of this study!

Andrea

Sorry for the typos! ;)

This was a great study and it brings up additional questions for me.  How might learning styles be tied to the verbal CAT calls?  The numbers look very encouraging and I wonder if moving toward a more holistic method of online teaching is needed.  I have often thought of providing video segments for certain class topics, as I know some students might receive the information more readily in a different format.  Or having "live" sessions to aid in delivering the material, which would allow immediate feedback concerning their level of understanding.  In any regard, this is definitely something I want to explore more, especially for those students who seem to be struggling.  Great job!

Hi Andrea and Jolene,

Thank you for this fascinating study! One element that I would be interested is seeing further explained is the success rate of individual students who were verbally contacted and administered the CAT. In other words, did all of the students who were verbally contacted succeed in the first assignment, or did a certain percentage fail, and was that percentage higher or lower than the class averages as reported in the study - did more students succeed that were verbally contacted than succeeded that were not contacted verbally. I found several of your explanations and assessments extremely helpful in navigating the online learning environment - that verbal engagement changes the students perspective and enhances learning, that personalized assessment combats transactional distance, that personalized contact invites students to be partners in the learning environment, and that extra communication efforts from the instructor reduces student concerns are among those that stood out to me. These and the practicality of your research are beneficial reminders to us all.

Thank you for your efforts,

Ron

Formative assessment has been and will continue to be a source of empowerment to encourage successful student outcomes and foster improved facilitation skills.  Summative assessments and associated techniques were used in the online classroom.  This technique was eliminated as a requirement in most online collegiate classrooms.  Based on my experience, the elimination of the summary was to minimize extraneous material, minimizing learner's working memory and cognitive load. 

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