CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES (CAT): A MAKING LEARNING VISIBLE PROJECT
Pharmacology is a knowledge based course taken in preparation for application in clinical practice. Traditional testing methods require that students pass a multiple choice exam without much attention focused on what is being taught in class prior to that terminal assessment. Classroom Assessment Techniques (CAT) (Angelo & Cross, 1993) guided my classroom inquiry. Each CAT requires planning, implementation, and responding. By closing the loop prior to subsequent lectures and or activities results from the assessments direct classroom teaching.
Does individual accountability via CAT assessment placed before, during, and post synchronous learning improve students’ perceptions of learning in three categories: prior knowledge, recall, and understanding; analysis and critical thinking; and synthesis and critical thinking?
Method
CATs are chosen based on goal inventory. Based on the Teaching goals inventory self -scoring worksheet, higher-order thinking skills and discipline-specific knowledge and skills scored the highest for this course. These results directed me to CATs aimed at assessing prior knowledge, recall, and understanding, assessing skill in analysis and critical thinking, and assessing skill in synthesis and creative thinking. Methods used to address the project question included: group informational feedback (GIFT), test item analysis and faculty reflection.
Outcomes
As a faculty member I noted that classroom discussion and questioning during the class period following a classroom assessment activity were meaningful and engaged. Muddy points acted to address gaps in learning prior to testing which resulted in higher test scores on key concepts related to the muddy points reviewed. Live course revision might seem radical but when grounded in CAT it was meaningful for both faculty and students. Changes were grounded in the CAT which acted to document achievement and/or lack of achievement of difficult concepts. Instead of waiting for a future offering to address lack of achievement, I was able to address it immediately and prior to testing. I was equally surprised by both the result of mutual sharing in the classroom and the importance of explaining the “why” behind the CAT to the students. Mere encouragement and support of student effort was not enough. I had to constantly reinforce the objective behind CAT. Students struggled to create matrix where “the answer was not in the book”. Despite their accomplishment of creating a matrix that was accurate, students still had a desire to see the “right answer”.
Conclusion
Sharing knowledge about pedagogy (in this case CAT) fostered student understanding, engagement, and enthusiasm for the course and perhaps the instructor. In summary students recognized that I had developed and communicated a system that was “effective”, and “evidence based”. Students named specific CATs like the muddy point and the “pre class assignments” as helpful in making a “complex” subject “understandable”. What was so insightful was the student’s characterization of the “system” as “unusual” and their recognition that a student needed to “trust her and you will succeed”.
If the student perceives what you’re doing as madness, a faculty member who explains the method behind the madness might transform the perception of madness to a perception of “brilliance”.