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.

This 20-Minute Mentor introduces five proven student centered techniques to gauge learning and comprehension. 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:

• Explain what a CAT is
• Adapt a classroom CAT to an online teaching environment
• Use the results of a CAT to identify ways to adjust your teaching
• Learn practical tips to incorporate into your courses and receive:
  • Tips for converting classroom CATs to the online classroom
  • Recommended resources for further study

Topics Covered

This 20-Minute Mentor provides practical introductions to five proven techniques that will give you insight into your online classrooms. During this program, you’ll learn the following CATs:

• A Background Knowledge Probe is a simple and short questionnaire designed to assess student preconceptions at the beginning of a new course, unit, or lesson
• 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.?
• 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?
• Reading Rating sheets ask students to give feedback on the effectiveness of assigned readings
• 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.