Susan Polick

That is a great technique to appeal to students who may be reluctant to ask questions in class. Do you ever have them fill out the KLW chart? It's good to have students recognize not only what they "want to know" but also what they "know" or have "learned". Often they are surprised at how much knowledge they actually have.

It's interesting to see the difference in levels of understanding that can be teased out through questioning. For example, there is probably less understanding/knowledge needed when a student is asked to define two techniques used in cosmetology than if you ask that same student to compare two techniques which would require the student to be able to assess results, level of difficulty, cost of the products etc.

Hi Carmen- Welcome to ED 103! I see that you have been moving through the modules very well. What is your learning style? Have you had instructors in the past whose teaching style you preferred?

What subjects do you teach and where do you get the test banks?

You're right to make sure that your students realize that this is a positive exercise. As we all know, students so often view assessments negatively, so it is really valuable that they find CATs non-threatening and in fact - helpful!

That's a great idea! We have done some similar things at my college and have even had the electronics students rig up a buzzer to see which team can answer first. It's interesting to see how often some of the more reserved students become comfortable in the team format.

You're absolutely right - it does take longer to prepare lessons that will appeal to the various styles but the payoff is clear. Of course it's unreasonable to expect that an instructor will tailor material to constantly address each style but it does certainly add variety to instruction that will appeal to our students.

Wonderful!

The hands on test is a very powerful assessment especially in career education.

Since most of my experience has been with adult students I find that by the time they have reached higher education most adults who are successful students have managed to develop study skills that fit their learning style even though they have not formally labeled their style or perhaps not even conciously considered it. When we discuss styles though it is often an "Aha!" moment as they now understand why they learn the way they do.