Classroom Assessment :: Terry Morris

Teacher's Purpose:
- Enables teachers to determine how concisely, completely, and creatively learners can summarize a large amount of information on a topic
Learner's Purpose:
- Provides learners practice in chunking information - condensing it into smaller, interrelated bits that are more easily processed and recalled.
Timing:
- End of presentation/lecture
- Close of a discussion
- End of a reading assignment
Hint:
- Per Angelo & Cross:
  Challenge students to answer "Who does what to whom, when, where, how, and why?" (represented by the letters WDWWWWHW) about a given topic, and then to synthesize those answers into a simple, informative, grammatical, and long summary sentence.
- Complete the one sentence summary yourself before assigning it to students
Feedback:
- Provide e-mail feedback to indivdiual students
- Post most complete one-sentence summaries on a discussion board.

Topic:
- Philosophy of Religion
Method:
- Learners view a videotape clip from a movie " The Little Buddha". A survey with a short answer question about the contents of the clip is prepared.
Question:
- "In a sentence or two - describe what is the purpose of the Buddhist muhdra OR the mandala."
Feedback:
- Learners complete the survey and the course management system collects responses. Instructor reads responses and posts the results in a discussion thread or announcement.
Alternate Delivery:
- Create a discussion board initially for students to post their responses
Example Provided By:
- Michael Kuzniar
  Richard J. Daley College
Note: You may notice that the example takes a little "liberty" with the technique described. Recall that CATs are context-specific-- modify them as needed to meet the needs of your students and your course.