Diagnostic Assessments
I love to use diagnostic assessments periodically throughout my classes to assess the students prior knowledge of a given topic we are about to cover. I tell the students these are not included in their grade, but just help me know what I need to focus on when teaching them. I then like to give the same assessment again at the end so they can compare where they were to where they are. Students are often quite amazed at how much they really learned when they compare the two assessments!!
Ellen,
Isn't it a great tool for students to review their work? I too use pretest and compare it to the posttest at the end of course. This is how to use assessment.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
That's a good idea. I wish the colleges I worked for would allow us to create our own assessments.
Regards,
Karissa Dahlke
Karissa,
I know that can be frustrating. Can you create diagnostics?
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Diagnostics really help the instructor more because it gives a good picture as to what you need to spend more time on. I always look for that look of "oh, not that again" to figure out if I need to slow down or speed up the lecture. It has happened before where I have had to reverse and go over the basics of certain subject matter. I often bring donuts into class to teach basic fractions as many students only see fractions as confusing numbers. When an instructor uses a real life example the topic usually becomes easier to understand.
Hi Ellen: This is such a great idea. Not only will the student learn what s/he already knows (or doesn't know), but it gives the instructor a baseline from which to start.
Penelope,
So, how do you do that online?
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Dr. Vicki,
That is great benefit for everyone so you can differentiate learning based on the student with the different virtual tools you have.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I also find that in online chats, I can use diagnostic assessments through the use of polls. Polls can be quickly developed and posted in one of the pods, so that students can take this assessment as they listen to my class. Also, I can apply them through the online surveys, which they can take in preparation for our online chat. What are some easy to use survey creation websites?
Sabahudin,
Survey Monkey is great. I have used some backchannelling apps to pose questions. My institution use qualtrics, you may want to see if that is available at your institution. Polling is still a great option.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Online, this can be done if you have virtual office hours, maybe insert a poll in your weekly announcements. This all depends on the platform you are using and if you have the capabilities for added features..
When all else fails, then I would use an email. Hopefully the students read and reply to it.
Bernadette,
You can use poll everywhere or other types of apps that will allow you to ask questions and generate statistics.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
