11 - How can I Adapt Five Popular Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) to the Online Classroom?

About this Magna Showing:

This showing took place on August 15, 2022. How can I Adapt Five Popular Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) to the Online Classroom? is a Magna 20-Minute Mentor that introduces five proven student-centered techniques to gauge learning and comprehension that will give you insight into your online classrooms.

In a campus classroom, students’ faces reveal a great deal. Eye contact, nodding heads, and furrowed brows reveal comprehension and attentiveness. In an online environment, however, those cues frequently are missing. Despite the lack of face-to-face contact in online teaching, faculty can use proven Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) to gauge student understanding of material, concepts, and salient points.

About the Magna Presenter:

Stephanie Delaney is the vice president of instruction at Renton Technical College and is a certified executive coach focused on facilitating institutional equity change. Delaney has a strong background in eLearning and has spoken nationally on issues related to leadership, technology, and effective online teaching and learning. Delaney earned her PhD in educational leadership in higher education/distance education at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. She also holds a law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law and a master’s degree in Environmental Law from Vermont Law School.  She earned her BS at Georgetown University. 

Drawing on her 15 years of teaching experience in online and traditional settings, the presenter presents five CATs and shows you how to apply them to different classroom situations, including synchronous and asynchronous online classes. The practical and creative tips provided help you optimize your favorite CATs to the online space.

Learning Goals: 

After viewing this Magna 20-Minute Mentor, participants will be able to: (1) Explain what a CAT is, (2) Adapt a classroom CAT to an online teaching environment, (3) Use the results of a CAT to identify ways to adjust your teaching, (4) Learn practical tips to incorporate into your courses and receive tips for converting classroom CATs to the online classroom and recommended resources for further study.

During this program, you’ll learn the following CATs: (1) A Background Knowledge Probe is a simple and short questionnaire designed to assess student preconceptions at the beginning of anew course, unit, or lesson; (2) The Muddiest Point helps assess where a student might be having trouble. Ask students to quickly answer, "What was the muddiest (most unclear) point in the lecture, discussion, homework assignment, activity, etc.?, (3) A Minute Paper asks students to write answers to two questions: What was the most important thing you learned in this class? and What important question remains unanswered? (4) Reading Rating sheets ask students to give feedback on the effectiveness of assigned readings; (5) The One-Sentence Summary has students answer Who does what to whom, when, where, how, and why? This CAT assesses creative and critical thinking about class content.

About the Magna Presenter: Stephanie Delaney is the vice president of instruction at Renton Technical College and is a certified executive coach focused on facilitating institutional equity change. Delaney has a strong background in eLearning and has spoken nationally on issues related to leadership, technology, and effective online teaching and learning. Delaney earned her PhD in educational leadership in higher education/distance education at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. She also holds a law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law and a master’s degree in Environmental Law from Vermont Law School.  She earned her BS at Georgetown University. 

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About the Faculty Center Discussion:

Following the showing, there was a discussion facilitated by Carla Sbrana, Educational Technologist at The Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. This link was shared in the chat box.  

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