Re: Elements of effective RAP preparation guides?
In my courses, for every chapter, there is a "Reading Guide and Goals"
document posted on Blackboard for the students to use as they are preparing
for the RAT and other class periods on that chapter. The Goals part of the
document is a list of what students should "be able to do" for that chapter,
and among these goals, some are in italics-- those are the goals the
students need to be able to achieve for the RAT. The Reading Guide part of
the document helps the students know what to focus on in the monster
chapters in our book (Anatomy and Physiology, chapters are each about 50
pages, so often they have 100 pages of science-textbook reading for a RAT),
as well as including "extras" like links to animations and fun facts or
stories that I would otherwise include in a lecture.
The result is that a very high percentage of students are well-prepared for
class and for exams. In particular, I find I get much better results for
higher-level goals (in my class, things like predicting the effect of a
change in one physiological variable on another variable or system, as well
as diagnosis-related skills) if I have stated explicitly in the goal sheet
what they need to be able to do-- and of course, if we have practiced that
skill in class.
Sarah Leupen
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Department of Biological Sciences
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:58:26 -0500
From: "Sweet, Michael S" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Elements of effective RAP preparation guides?
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Friends,
Increasingly, I am running into models of instruction that some call "the i=
nverted classroom." That is, in comparison to standard chalk-n-talk courses=
where the teacher tells the content in class and students struggle to use =
the content on their own doing homework, the inverted classroom design has =
students acquire content on their own outside of class, and work together w=
ith coaching doing "homework" application activities in class.
Sound familiar?
What all of these have in common is a great deal of attention to well-organ=
ized, high quality outside-of-class prep materials.
Some of the elements I am seeing are:
1) Learning goals for the assignment/module
2) List of vocabulary to be sure to know
3) List of concepts to become familiar with
4) Reading page numbers to focus on, and why
5) Sometimes lectures/PowerPoint shows from previous semesters
6) Sometimes online quizzes (some ungraded, some graded to the point of hav=
ing the iRAT take place online before class)
What else do you include in the materials you give to students to help them=
prepare outside of class for the in-class RAPs and application activities?
What's currently realistic for you, versus what might be an aspirational go=
al toward which we all might strive?
-M
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