After completing midterm evaluations, students expressed a desire to have less lecture and more activities. Therefore, I designed and implemented a CATS to assess different approaches to learning in my COM 100 courses (5 sections) over a two-week experimental period. I compared a traditional lecture based approach (control group – 1 section), balanced lecture and interactive learning approach (experimental group 2 sections), and completely interactive learning approach with no lecture (experimental group 2 sections). Based on course quiz scores pre and post interventions, the balanced lecture and interactive learning approach had the highest averages, affirming the need for lecture coupled with activities. See data, evaluation, and assignments below.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| com-100-midterm-evaluation.docx | 12.92 KB |
| com-100-chapter-9-class-activity.docx | 11.89 KB |
| chapter-10-class-activity.docx | 15.04 KB |
| cats-data-versha-anderson.docx | 12.02 KB |
| informal-roles-sheet.docx | 14.9 KB |
Comments
Versha,
I really like how you assessed your students midway through the semester instead of at the end. By doing this it really helps you find out what they think they need to learn better and your data show what you know they need to learn better.
Versha,
This is an excellent CATS. First, the mid semester evaluation demonstrates your focus on teaching for the students for that specific semester. Second, I admire all of the work you did during the two week experimental period to then assess again what the students learned. Your results demonstrate how we need to have balance of lecture and activities in the classroom for students to connect the concepts. Thank you for sharing! Olga
This is fantastic. So many people find it difficult to do drastically different things in their classes in fear of having a negative impact on one group of students. But, it's information like this that helps us determine best practices. Thanks again!