Lane, 

I've witnessed similar results using an open notes format for iRATS. Similar to your method, students are provided with discussion and review questions for the readings and to bring their notes to class on the day of the iRATS. I even tell them that the questions on the iRATS mirror the review questions, even the order of the questions. By encouraging them to write notes and bring them to class, I'm helping to encourage good study habits. Generally I find that students willing to take detailed notes score in the 9 - 10 range, while those who take cursory notes (sometimes just a 1 - 2 sentence response to the review questions) score in the 6 - 7 range. The proportion of students willing to do work before class doesn't seem to change when you allow them to take notes into iRATS. 

I think it's important to understand and stress the role of iRATS in the learning process to students. It's to ensure that they've read the material before class so that they can apply it in activities, not to memorize and regurgitate. Therefore, I never quite understood the insistence of many TBLers that there should be no notes in the classroom when taking iRATS. 

Cheers, Tom

On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 11:36 AM, Lane Brunner <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Last year I started letting students use a Guided Reading document I created, which contained learning objectives, readings and questions to answer while preparing for class, as a “cheat sheet” during the iRAT/tRAT. My reasoning was:

 

1.       to decrease the anxiety associated with iRATs on a “difficult” subject, and

2.       to give the students and incentive to create a set of notes while they study (as opposed to highlighting and annotating a text).

 

According to the students, it seems to have worked. Interestingly, iRAT scores were no different than in the past offerings of the course. We also had another faculty member in the College do the same thing with the same result.

 

Lane

------------------------------------------------------------

Lane J. Brunner, Ph.D., R.Ph.

Professor and Chair

Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences

California Northstate College of Pharmacy

10811 International Drive

Rancho Cordova, CA  95670

 

Tel: (916) 503-1860

Email: [log in to unmask]

Office: Room 232

 

 

This message and any files or text attached to it are intended only for the recipients named above, and contain information that may be confidential or privileged. If you are not an intended recipient, you must not read, copy, use, or disclose this communication. Please also notify the sender by replying to this message, and then delete all copies of it from your system. Thank you.

 

From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Molly Espey
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2012 1:04 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: cheat sheets

 

I did that for a while but stopped.  It seemed that the students spent more time trying to cram as much as possible onto the cheat sheet and less time trying to actually absorb any of the information.

 

Molly Espey

 

From: Team-Based Learning [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mark Harrison [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2012 2:25 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: If not Doing iRats, What?

I let my students take an 8-1/2 X 11 cheat sheet into the RAT (and they can use the cheat sheets on the exams, too).  They still need to work through the knowledge-level issues, just to prepare the cheat sheet.  This seems to produce the same learning outcomes (for the RATs, any way) with less anxiety.

 

Mark Harrison

On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 1:53 PM, Clapp, Peter A <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

I think this highlights perfectly the need to find a “sweet spot” in how challenging to make RAT questions.  If you are testing your students’ ability to apply the information in the reading to new or highly complex problems with RAT questions, and they are not performing well, you may want to save those items for the exam.  Provide them with an opportunity in class to work through the problem-solving/learning process as a team – and then ask them to answer high-level questions individually in the summative assessment.  As a result, they ought to see the value of coming to class and doing application exercises, their RAT grades will improve, and you will save yourself from having to create even MORE challenging exam questions.

 

Peter Clapp

Assistant Professor

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy
Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions
Regis University
3333 Regis Boulevard, H-28
Denver, CO  80221-1099

Office: (303) 625-1312

Fax: (303) 625-1305

 

 

 

 

From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bradetich, Judith
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2012 10:12 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: If not Doing iRats, What?

 

Hello,

I have been using TBL in my Adolescent and Infant Development classes this summer. One of the primary complaints I had was that the students felt little impetus to come to class after taking the RATs, as they felt I had already tested their knowledge and even though the next few classes were spent doing applications, they didn't "get it." The common complaint was that the RATs were too difficult and asked for application instead of "knowledge" and they felt that the rest of the time they were "just teaching ourselves" and it was the blind leading the blind. I did lecture a bit AFTER the RATs, priming them for the activities... They wanted their tests to be more rote learning, I guess. They wanted to be able to prove that they knew the material, but instead seemed to feel frustrated that no matter how well they thought they knew it, they did poorly. I reassured them that low grades were typical on iRats - and they did do much better with their teams, but their level of anger and frustration at me and the TBL format was palpable. Should I be giving them some individual low-stakes knowledge quizzes before the RATs so they can feel like they know the stuff before they have to apply it? It made me question my tests. They DID have study guides.

These were summer courses, which meant a fair amount of density, by definition. I generally tested 2 chapters per RAT = perhaps I should have given one RAT per chapter - 2 RATs per week?... They really hated being tested before I lectured - and I really tried not to lecture very much...though I found myself falling back onto past pre-TBL lectures, which basically reiterated the reading - but since they were after the students had read I think they felt it was redundant.

Change is hard, I know, and I kept reassuring them that it was harder for me to NOT lecture and to come up with viable activities...but this particular group seemed especially testy. Might have just been the participants...

Thoughts anyone? - especially about the lack of impetus to come to class AFTER being tested.

Thanks,

Judi Bradetich

 

Judi Bradetich, M.S., M.M.
Lecturer, Development and Family Studies
Dept. of Educational Psychology
University of North Texas

From: Team-Based Learning [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of McCormack, Wayne T [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2012 8:31 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: If not Doing iRats, What?

Do more applications!  Use RATs as needed for new material, but spend no more than 25% of your total TBL time with readiness assurance. 

If you have multiple courses using TBL at the same time in your curriculum, you might want to avoid having multiple RATs on the same day.

 

Wayne McCormack

University of Florida College of Medicine

 




--
Tom DeWitt, Ph.D.
University Applied Learning Coordinator
Associate Professor of Marketing
College of Business and Economics
University of Hawaii at Hilo