Faculty Workshops Series CATs in the Classroom Dr Aziza Ellozy aellozy@aucegypt.edu Center for Learning and Teaching Spring 2008 Faculty Workshops Series Copyright Notice

Workshop Objectives To characterize Classroom Assessment and Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) To discuss the purpose and benefits of CATs To identify commonly used CATs Introduce you to the Teaching Goals Inventory www.cecilroadprimaryschool.supanet.com/ messag...

Types Of Assessment Classroom assessment :Concerns your performance Performance assessment: Concerns individual student’s performance Outcomes assessment (ABET-type assessment): Concerns program’s performance

What is Classroom Assessment? “It is an approach designed to help faculty find out what students are learning in the classroom and how well they are learning it.” ~Thomas A. Angelo and K. Patricia Cross~

What are CATs? (Classroom Assessment Techniques) They are a set of methods and techniques created to answer two questions: How well are students learning? 2. How well am I teaching?

How do CATs differ from quizzes? are formative in nature (purpose to improve quality of learning not to evaluate) are rarely graded are usually anonymous

Characteristics of CATs Learner-centered: focus is on improving learning not on improving teaching helps students monitor their own learning Teacher-directed: Individual teacher decides what to assess, how to assess and how to respond to the information gained through the assessment Beneficial to both student and instructor: Help faculty and students focus on learning Help students monitor their learning w/o pressure of exams Foster good rapport with students

What Can I Assess? Course-related knowledge and skills (prior knowledge, recall and understanding, critical thinking, problem solving skills)

What Can I Assess? Course-related knowledge and skills (prior knowledge, recall and understanding, critical thinking, problem solving skills) Student attitudes and self-awareness (awareness of values, attitudes, self awareness as learners)

What Can I Assess? Course-related knowledge and skills (prior knowledge, recall and understanding, critical thinking, problem solving skills) Student attitudes and self-awareness (awareness of values, attitudes, self awareness as learners) Reactions to instruction methods (student reactions to teachers/teaching, class activities, assignments, and materials)

General Approach Decide Explain Implement & collect the feedback What you want to learn about your students’ knowledge, skills, beliefs, etc. Which assessment technique will provide the feedback Explain Why How Implement & collect the feedback Share the feedback with the students Decide how to respond to the feedback

A How-to-Guide to Classroom Assessment Techniques (see attached “New Chalk Talk” issue)

Commonly used CATS* Recall, understanding, strategic knowledge Minute paper Muddiest Point Synthesis and creative thinking RSQC2 (Recall, Summarize, Question, Connect, Comment) One-sentence Summary Application and Performance Application Cards Directed Paraphrasing *Angelo, T.A. & Cross, K.P. 1993. Classroom assessment techniques, 2nd Ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

The Minute Paper What was the most important thing you learned today? (Most commonly used assessment technique) End of class period ask students to answer two questions in writing: What was the most important thing you learned today? What questions remain uppermost on your mind?

The Muddiest Point Asks the student to identify a concept or concepts that are unclear. www.woodlandmedia.com/ graphics2/confused.gif

The Muddiest Point What was the muddiest point in….? Lecture Discussion Homework Asst. Play Film www.woodlandmedia.com/ graphics2/confused.gif

RSQC2 (recall, summarize, question, connect, comment) ________________ Summarize Question Connect _______________ Recall most important ideas (2 min) Summarize the points into single sentence (3 min) What question (s) remains to be answered (2 min) Explain how the material connects to course goal, or unit objectives or previous material, etc

Directed Paraphrasing Ask the student to summarize a key idea The paraphrase part requires the student to generate a new way to express the concept. The directed part specifies the audience to whom the paraphrase is directed. http://www.open.ac.uk/skillsforstudy/images/paraphrasing.jpg

Applications Cards “On the index card provided, write down one (2, 3…) real world application (s) for what you just have learned about…” www.5thavenuegifts.com/ peggykarr_design.asp

Activity (see notes)

Getting Started In Using Classroom Assessment Techniques Plan Select one, and only one, of your classes Decide in light of your teaching goal (s) Choose a simple and quick technique

Getting Started In Using Classroom Assessment Techniques Implement Make sure the students understand the procedure Analyze student’s responses as soon as possible

Getting Started In Using Classroom Assessment Techniques Respond -- “Close the feedback loop“ Tell students what you learned and what you will do about it Motivates students to become actively involved

The Teaching Goal Inventory (very useful) Select one course you are currently teaching Respond to each item on the inventory in relation to that particular course. If you are new to CA, do not worry about linking goals to assessment tools. It is useful only to be aware of the relationship. Teaching Goals Inventory http://www.uiowa.edu/~centeach/tgi/

Acknowledgement Adapted from “Classroom assessment techniques” T. Angelo and P. Cross Clip Art is from except title page which is from: http://congres.insa-toulouse.fr/ALE2007/img/i-teachmov-3.gif (retrieved April , 2007)

Questions ?

Copyright notice Copyright A.R. Ellozy [April 2007]. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author. aellozy@aucegypt.edu