Jennifer,
To encourage reading and note taking skills I provide students with discussion questions in advance and allow them to use their notes during RATs. Therefore, I never write questions that simply duplicate content from the book. I also consider the discussions that I want to create for the group RATS when formulating questions. I want and encourage students to discuss and justify the responses that they've recorded. Therefore, the questions I write are generally examples or application orientated. I want them to discuss and justify why a certain example fits a definition or why an application of a concept is correct or not. I also review all of the questions with the class after they've finished the group RAT. It's much more meaningful when you can discuss a scenario or example and why it conforms to a certain topic you want them to understand, rather than just putting a definition in the question.
I hope this helps.
Cheers, Tom
Tom DeWitt Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Marketing
College of Business and Economics
University of Hawaii - Hilo
200 W. Kawili St.
Hilo, HI 96720
Phone: (808) 974-7384
----- Original Message -----
From: Jennifer Imazeki <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 16:06
Subject: how basic should RATs be? (was MC vs open-ended applications?)
To: [log in to unmask]
> Thanks Sandy - I do plan to have the RATs all as multiple-choice and
> my question was really about applications. But you raise another point
> that I've been wondering about as well and that is about discussion
> after RATs. As you point out, the RATs need to have one 'right' answer
> and my understanding is that they should be relatively basic - since
> the RATs are covering material that we won't have discussed yet in
> class, it seems like I shouldn't expect students to be able DO much
> with the material yet and instead just test definitions and check
> student understanding of whatever readings they were supposed to do
> beforehand. But I've also seen statements from people about not making
> the RATs 'too easy'. So I guess I'm a bit confused about what
> level to
> aim for with the RATs and how much I should expect the post-RAT,
> pre-applications discussion to be real discussion versus me
> 'lecturing' to clarify misunderstandings about the basic
> concepts. Am
> I understanding the role of the RATs correctly?
>
> thanks,
> Jennifer
>
> On Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 6:31 PM, Sandy Cook <sandy.cook@duke-
> nus.edu.sg> wrote:
> > Perhaps I'm missing something, but in the original query - I
> think there might have been a bit of confusion between
> application vs IRAT-GRATS. Just wanted to make sure some of
> those distinctions were clear to people.
> >
> > If you are using the IF-AT for the GRATs= then they have to be
> MCQ questions. Not necessarily with only one right answer, but
> certainly with one best/better answer. Now the learning that
> comes from the discussions are rich when you follow up with many
> of the suggestions and certainly a team appeal can argue their
> way into more points for an alternative position on the right answer.
> >
> > For applications however, they don't have to be MCQ and there
> are lots of strategies people have used from diagrams, short
> answer, etc. Good to have some in MCQ format - and sometimes
> with close answers - from which students much choose, debate,
> and provide explanation - for as someone mentioned - at some
> point you have to make a choice.
> >
> > One way that we have used to permit short answers, but allow
> for simultaneous reporting (without people seeing everyone's
> answers) is to write them on small pieces of paper (limits
> response too) and paste on a single sheet (but we only have 8
> teams - might need 2 pages if more teams) and project answers on
> a visualize. That way all 8 team's responses are shown at same
> time, but you don't have to write them on paper or white boards
> for everyone to see.
> >
> > Sandy
> >
> > ********************************************************
> > Sandy COOK, PhD | Senior Associate Dean, Curriculum
> Development |
> > Medical Education, Research, and Evaluation (MERE) |
> > Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore | Khoo Teck Puat
> Building | 8 College Road Singapore |169857 |
> > W: (65) 6516 8722| F: (65) 6227 2698 |
> > email: [log in to unmask] | web: http://www.duke-
> nus.edu.sg;>
> > Administrative Executive: Belinda Yeo | belinda.yeo@duke-
> nus.edu.sg | 6516-8511
> >
> > Important: This email is confidential and may be
> privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please
> delete it and notify us immediately; you should not copy or use
> it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other
> person. Thank you.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:TEAMLEARNING-
> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sweet, Michael S
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 11:21 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: MC vs open-ended applications?
> >
> >>then I will ask for the voices of the "minority opinions." I
> am rarely disappointed. . .
> >>
> >
> > Much of being a good TBL facilitator is being able to
> playfully "pick fights" between teams.
> >
> > Ruth is a natural. ;-)
> >
> > -M
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:TEAMLEARNING-
> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Levine, Ruth
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 10:16 AM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: MC vs open-ended applications?
> >
> > Even when all of the teams choose one answer, there is almost
> always a "minority opinion" within each team where one or more
> of the students liked an alternative choice. What I like to do
> when everyone picks the same answer is I will ask one or more of
> the teams to justify the choice, then I will ask for the voices
> of the "minority opinions." I am rarely disappointed--the
> students who argued and "lost" in their teams are frequently
> happy to be able to justify their choices to the larger group.
> Sometimes, students will ALL pick the wrong answer--these are
> some of my favorite scenarios--and a rare student will then have
> the chance to describe why they alone chose the correct answer.
> >
> > I will also ask the students to justify their decision to
> avoid the options that they did not choose. Many times I will
> ask them to go through every option. They cannot get away with
> just picking one choice and then go on.
> > Ruth
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:TEAMLEARNING-
> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jennifer Imazeki
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 9:59 AM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: MC vs open-ended applications?
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I will be trying TBL for the first time in the fall and am working
> > through lots of issues. One has to do with the structure, and
> > reporting, of the team application exercises. My students will be
> > using clickers for the IRATs (though probably the IF-AT forms
> for the
> > GRATs), and I was planning to start many of the team exercises
> with an
> > individual clicker question, to get students thinking about
> the issue
> > on their own before turning to the group. But I'm a little worried
> > about having all the team exercises set up as multiple-choice
> > questions because I wonder how that will impact the ensuing
> > discussion. For example, I can imagine a scenario where the majority
> > of teams selects one of the responses; even if a team that
> chooses a
> > different response has a good reason for selecting that, the other
> > students may just think they are 'right' because they are with the
> > majority, and not really engage in the discussion. Of course, with
> > many of the applications, there is not necessarily a right
> answer so
> > the key will be in their reasoning but still, I wonder if having
> > multiple-choice options will create an 'illusion' in students' minds
> > that there are right and wrong responses. I've thought about giving
> > them whiteboards instead and having them write a short
> response but
> > then I'm worried that, given the size of the room (70
> students), not
> > everyone will be able to see what everyone else has written.
> >
> > Any thoughts, experiences, advice?
> >
> > Jennifer
> > ****************************
> > Jennifer Imazeki
> > Department of Economics
> > San Diego State University
> > homepage: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~jimazeki/
> > Economics for Teachers blog:
> http://economicsforteachers.blogspot.com>
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