I think the question of "How many RATs?" is the wrong question. That's because the answer might be different in different situations. The principle is that students have to experience the class as being about USING CONCEPTS AND IDEAS NOT SIMPLY LEARNING ABOUT THEM. If you put too much emphasis on the RATs (which you can do in a variety of ways including by giving too many or counting them too much and, most commonly, not having compelling 4-S applications), then students think that this class is just like all the others we've had in that the GRADE is what is important. When that happens they will complain that the tests are too hard or it's not fair to test us over stuff you haven't lectured about or anything else that they think will convince you to make it easier to get a good grade--because the focus is on grades and NOT on learning. When I've encountered more than a modest push back (which you always get early on), I've learned that what I need to do isn't give fewer, more or easier RATs--that's treating the symptom not the problem. What I need to do is to improve my applications and/or do a better job of helping students understand WHY the applications I'm using are important to them.
Also, when I encounter colleagues who are getting a lot of flack on their RATs the most common reasons are:
1) The frequency is so great that students experience the class as being about content coverage not content application.
2) The colleague either doesn't know about or has decided against using one or more of the tools that help students get past the, "it's about grades not about learning" mentality that virtually always happens in traditional courses. These tools include:
• Letting students have a say in how much the RATs count
• Using the IF-AT answer sheets to provide real-time feedback
• Using the appeals process
• Focusing the RAT questions on KEY ideas (i.e., ideas that YOU are absolutely convinced are critical because they are inextricably linked to your applications--thus, Backwards Design is critical. Further, if they pass this test, you won't have any trouble justifying the fact that that students need to master them.
• After each application (which really need to be good ones), reminding students that, without their advanced preparation, they wouldn't have had the opportunity to practice using the content.
I hope this helps.
Larry
On Thu, Aug 16, 2012 at 10:15 AM, Carson, Ron
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I completed last semester’s Older Adult course with good results. The way my class was set up, I had 7 weeks of TBL and 6 weeks of traditional lecture, practicals, etc. For the coming semester, I have 13 weeks of TBL class. So, given that only 6 or 7 iRats are recommended, what do you do on the weeks when no iRATS are scheduled? Or, is it OK to do iRATS every week?
Thanks,
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Ron Carson MHS, OT
Assistant Professor
Adventist Univeristy of Health Sciences
671 Winyah Drive
Orlando, FL 32803
407.303.9182 (office)
407.303.7820 (fax)
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Larry K. Michaelsen, Professor of Management
Dockery 400G, University of Central Missouri
Warrensburg, MO 64093
660/543-4315 voice, 660/543-8465 fax
For info on:
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