Entries Tagged with “concept check”
Describe your approach to facilitating student learning in smart classrooms (continued).
I use a couple of different tools, I think, more than others to get them to become more active in their learning. Probably the main thing I have done is to make use of the student response systems; so they basically have these “clickers” that are built into the [ENS 280] classroom that are connected to their seats with a little Velcro strap; those are the tools that I’ve used to incorporate in what I call concept check questions. So the concept check questions are basically little review items, very similar to multiple-choice items that will be on the test about a topic that I just finished teaching.
For example, if I just finished a section on different types of memory, I might then go through and give them a multiple choice item with four choices, I ask them to pick up their clickers and basically they are given immediate feedback about whether they understand what I’ve been talking about. I’m given immediate feedback about whether they’re getting it as a whole, and so immediately (I’ve given them a minute or so to respond to the question), I get a nice little histogram of the breakdown of the responses, what percentage of them got it right, what percentage of them got it wrong. And then I can have some sense if it’s okay to continue—80-95% of them get it right—or if 30-40% of them get it right, I kind of go back a couple of slides and review whatever the concept was to make sure that they’re on board. That’s the main thing that I’ve done.
— Mark Laumakis, Psychology
What data, observations, or feedback from students have you received regarding your approach?
I would say the best part of that for me has been getting feedback from them formally and informally about that tool. And the feedback has been uniformly positive on the concept check questions. I actually had students spontaneously writing on their course evaluations in the fall that you should do more of those: “more concept check questions, they’re very helpful.” Again, it gives them feedback, they like it, it also gives them a sense of the kinds of multiple choice items I might ask and so, when they’re taking the first and second test in the course and they’re not sure what to expect, they’ve maybe have seen probably a half dozen or more items that will mimic what will show up on the test. That’s the main tool I use.
— Mark Laumakis, Psychology
How does the feedback you've received match up with your observations and/or expectations for the impact and success of your approach?
Those assessments I think really help me move away from just a global impression, if you will, of what’s going on in the classroom and give me numbers. I’m a scientist by training, and so having numbers, having concrete data to back up what those impressions might be is really, really helpful to me, because I have a sense of what’s working and what’s not working. So for example, I had a sense that the concept check questions were pretty helpful and students were responding positively, [and] then I got some numbers to back that up. I also had a sense, for example, with the discussion boards for the large sections, that those weren’t working as well because of how large the sections are, and how unwieldy that can become.
In fact, when I got the Student Assessment of Learning Gains data on the discussion boards, those numbers were down in the two or three range, rather than up above the four range on those kinds of items. It definitely helped me gather some additional information in a more formal way, doing those kinds of assessments.
Informally again, students have given positive feedback about the concept check questions, not so much about the discussion boards, and so, I think that’s one of the things that happens is you try out different tools, you find what works, what doesn’t work, and I’m very interested in finding out in formal ways what works, rather than some sense of what’s going on in a classroom, and again, numbers-driven, data-driven conclusions are what I’m looking to get. I’m able to do that with some of the tools I’m using.
— Mark Laumakis, Psychology
What factors contributed to your choosing that approach?
A big thing during the summer was identifying student passivity as a major undesirable condition, as a major problem in these large lectures, and then trying to find ways to leverage the technology in the classroom to overcome that, to address that issue, and the concept check questions are a perfect example of how I try to do that. It sounds relatively simple, but it ends up being pretty powerful, and sometimes those little things can make a pretty big difference, I think.
— Mark Laumakis, Psychology