Duane -
Personally, I'm not sure that I'd give such hints (maybe others will
differ). As I recall you teach accounting and you might point out that
with the end of GAAP (current U.S. accounting standards) in a few years
they better know how to learn new things on the job and that you're
helping them do that now. Also, I have found that with such assessments,
you really find student weaknesses. For example, I teach Money and Banking
and most of my students have had accounting. Yet, few seem to know where
owner's equity goes on the balance sheet (yes, I'm dumbfounded). I guess
the message here is that one does have to be very careful on the
difficulty of RATs. I just do Bloom's Level 1 and some simple
applications.
Also, after we do a RAT, I do a fair amount of reporting of results.
Attached you'll find what I report for each team. I show the first part to
the class (I figure that the team results are to only be seen by the
team). The subtle message here is that some of the people in the class can
do this work, as can some of the teams.
It is too late now, but at the start of the semester it seems like a good
idea to really lay out why you're using TBL. I've used this TBL video:
http://magenta.cit.utexas.edu/largeclasses/#tbl (though UT might not work
for OU students!). Also, as some suggested here (including Jennifer
Imazeki), the first thing the first day of class I ask
Poll: Thinking of what you want to get out of your college education and
this course, which of the following is most important to you?
1. Acquiring information (facts, principles, concepts)
2. Learning how to use information in new situations
3. Developing lifelong learning skills
Most of my students answered 2 or 3 (it was mostly freshman and transfers
who answered 1 -- this is consistent with the book described in
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/11/18/fearfactor , but that's
really another story). For those stuck on 1, I pull out a smart phone and
do a Google search to suggest that key these days isn't knowing facts. I
then talk about how TBL helps with 2 and 3. Just last week a student
complained about a "tricky" question and I pulled out these results (and I
added that "life is tricky"). I could see the proverbial light bulb
going off in his head.
- Bill
> work email: [1][log in to unmask]
> My TBL students have complained that my RATS are too difficult. This
> occurs even though I try to limit RAT questions to lower levels Bloom's
> taxonomy of educational objectives ("knowledge" , "comprehension" and
> "application" ---- no "synthesis" or "evaluation" and no computations).
> Also, it occurs even though I give them tips ( a list of terms ) before
> the RAT is given.
>
>
>
> So, I am thinking about giving stronger tips. For example, consider the
> below question.
>
> 6. The gap ratio expresses the repricing gap for a given time
> period as a percentage of
>
> a. equity.
>
> b. total liabilities.
>
> c. current liabilities.
>
> d. total assets.
>
> e. current assets.
>
>
>
> I could give them the premise of all or some of the questions before the
> RAT. That is I would give them the below before the RAT.
>
>
>
> The gap ratio expresses the repricing gap for a given time period as a
> percentage of
>
>
>
> I worry this could make it too easy. Has anyone out there done this? Any
> advice?
>
>
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Duane R. Stock, Price Investments Professor
>
> 205A Adams Hall
>
> Price College of Business
>
> University of Oklahoma
>
> Norman, OK 73019
>
>
>
>
> home email: [2][log in to unmask]
>> References
>
>
> work fax: 405.325.7688
>
>
>
> work phone: 405.325.5690
>
>
>
> home phone: 405.364.5347
>
>
>
> cell phone: 405.808.9344
>
>
>
> home address: 4112 Harrogate Drive
>
> Norman, OK 73072
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Visible links
> 1. mailto:[log in to unmask]
> 2. mailto:[log in to unmask]
--
Bill Goffe
Department of Economics
SUNY Oswego, 416 Mahar Hall
Oswego, NY 13126
315-312-3444(v), 315-312-5444(f)
[log in to unmask]
http://cook.rfe.org