Hi, Tammy!

I look to the initial post and add a CAT related to it for every week's discussions. I suggest adding examples to explain the concept in the discussion. I teach government and one discussion asks students to discuss one of the freedoms found in the Bill of Rights. I suggest the students do not choose the obvious, religion or gun control, but did deeper into these rights to find a different one. This gets them to, hopefully, read all ten, which is my purpose. I simply reply to the initial post for each week with my CAT. 

I have found students who really want to learn something in a course will jump on the opportunity to go above and beyond the expectations outlined in the course. They will bring in outside sources. Sometimes, students just need a little push as they do not know what direction to go in. I remember back to my first years in college, remembering walking around in a fog until I started to figure things out. I try to help students lift that fog with some direction in the CATs.

My best to you!

Kathleen Sedille

Tammy, Did the person who reviewed your class give you any guidance on how to better integrate CATs in your class? 

I assume this is an online class.

I think that criticism without some guidance is not helpful. In fact it is a form of "hit and run" abuse.

I post my CATs in the first DQ of the week on the first day of the module. One of the reasons I post it on the first day of the module is because in most classes no students respond to the DQ on the first day of the module so I have no way to post any posts that day. In this manner I am technically meeting the GCU standard to be in the class every day. 

My CAT is based on the previous module's theme and issues raised in that theme. 

Those are my thoughts.

I too post on day one of the new week. This keeps the post first in the forum where it is obvious to students. It is not mandatory to answer but I do share that if their answer is reply is substantial it will count as a participation post. I also think about what I wanted them to learn from the previous week and focus on that as the discussion CAT and question to the students. 

I do have a question about participation posts. In addition to how the policy reads, I also expect student posts to have some quantity to it. For instance, a post of two or three sentences will not count. Does anyone else do anything similar?

Tammy I try to post a CAT each week in each DQ. I go to the DQ question hit reply and then change the title to CAT for class participation. Sometimes I have more than one CAT in the DQ. I do peer reviews , not yours, and find it easier to find the CAT's if they are called that in the DQ section. You do not need to call it a CAT but it should be a question for the students to answer that pertains to the DQ. The GCU policy is that one needs to be posted each week to assess the students understanding. There Is a course on CAT's, faculty development  makes available.that can be taken that is pretty good and gives you 50 different ways to add a CAT.

Lorilee, My CAT is set up to cause the student to delve further in the content and concepts of the class so students respond with a answers that are often 2 or more paragraphs. I have noted students respond with a 2 or 3 sentence answer. 

Here is this week's CAT for my on line class counseling class:

Each week I will be posting a Classroom Assessment Tool. The purpose of this post is for us to deepen our understanding of each other and the material discussed in the class.  While there is not an additional grade for this question, answering the question does count toward your participation.

Last week the first DQ asked you if you felt comfortable offering or providing a diagnosis. Many students said that they did not feel competent to provide a diagnosis to a client. I am puzzled by this response as the students in this class are in their final class for degree. If you feel you are not yet competent to provide a diagnosis for a client, please, tell me why? Second, I would like to know what you still need to know before you feel comfortable providing a diagnosis to a client? What steps will you take to become competent in diagnosing a client?

Ron Friesen, MC, LPC

Tammy - I post CATS as extra DQ's, not in the usual DQ questions.  I post them on the first day of each new week.  In general about 2/3 of the students respond.  

I have found the CATS to be very helpful in understanding each class's knowledge base so I know where there might be gaps to fill.  I love CATS!  

Karen Stiefel, PhD, RN

Tammy and Karen:

I do as Tammy does. I have an optional CATs DQ each week. I switch up the use of different CATs as well. That way, I have an opportunity to see which works better. I do not always get many responses in the CATs DQs (a few each week), but the ones I do get are great!

I would suggest making sure to reply really well to each CATs student response so that the students see how important it is to you that they respond to the CATs. 

Doc. H.  

I posted this response about 6 months ago but it still applies today.  I try to post a CAT each week in each DQ. I go to the DQ question hit reply and then change the title to CAT for class participation. Sometimes I have more than one CAT in the DQ. I do peer reviews , not yours, and find it easier to find the CAT's if they are called that in the DQ section. You do not need to call it a CAT but it should be a question for the students to answer that pertains to the DQ. The GCU policy is that one needs to be posted each week to assess the students understanding. There Is a course on CAT's, faculty development  makes available. That can be taken that is pretty good and gives you 50 different ways to add a CAT.

Depending on the topic one may get a number of posts to the CAT and in some cases very few. I also respond to at least 10% of the students posts in the DQ forum. Generally I an tell from their responses, if they understand the material . I post a comment to the class regarding specific posts that are relevant to the entire subject matter usually titled class .  I get responses to those comments, usually more than the CAT posts,  that also help me assess the students learning. You could call these comments CAT"s as long as they relate to student assessment of the material.