Using CATs in Online Courses

The Minute Paper Overview

The most often-used CAT per Angelo & Cross!

• Teacher's Purpose:
  • Provide useful feedback with little intial effort
  • Ensures that students' questions will be raised (see hint below)
    
• Learner's Purpose:
  • Learners must evaluate what they recall to determine the most important point
  • Learners must self-assess to come up with a question
    
• Timing:
  • End of presentation/lecture
  • Close of a discussion
  • End of a reading assignment
    
• Hint:
  • Suggested Questions:
    "In one sentence, summarize the most important concepts from the reading."??????
    "What important question remains unanswered?"
  • Avoid overuse
    
• Feedback:
  • Tabluate resonses, make note of useful comments
  • E-mail students indivdually if appropriate with additional resources
  • Post results in an announcement or discussion board

The Minute Paper Example

• Topic:
  • Internet Search Tools
    
• Method:
  • Short answer quiz with one question
    
• Question:
  • "What is the most important/interesting thing you learned after reviewing the web sites about Internet search tools?"
    
• Feedback:
  • Learner responses are read and posted to a discussion board by the teacher. Learners read posts and reply with additional comments.
    
• Alternate Delivery:
  • Create a discussion board initially for students to post their responses
    
• Example Provided By:
  • Roxann Humbert
    Fairmont State College

Popular CATs with overviews and examples:

• The Muddiest Point
• The Minute Paper
• The One-Sentence Summary
• What's the Principle?
• The Background Knowledge Probe
• Student-generated Test Questions