We found 13 results that contain "accessibility"
Posted on: #iteachmsu
DISCIPLINARY CONTENT
Factors for good health
Regular exercise, balanced nutrition, and adequate rest all contribute to good health. People receive medical treatment to maintain the balance, when necessary. Physical well-being involves pursuing a healthful lifestyle to decrease the risk of disease.
Good health depends on a wide range of factors.
Genetic factors
A person is born with a variety of genes. In some people, an unusual genetic pattern or change can lead to a less-than-optimum level of health. People may inherit genes from their parents that increase their risk for certain health conditions.
Environmental factors
Environmental factors play a role in health. Sometimes, the environment alone is enough to impact health. Other times, an environmental trigger can cause illness in a person who has an increased genetic risk of a particular disease.
Access to healthcare plays a role, but the WHO suggests that the following factors may have a more significant impact on health than this:
where a person lives
the state of the surrounding environment
genetics
their income
their level of education
employment status
It is possible to categorize these as follows:
The social and economic environment: This may include the financial status of a family or community, as well as the social culture and quality of relationships.
The physical environment: This includes which germs exist in an area, as well as pollution levels.
A person’s characteristics and behaviors: A person’s genetic makeup and lifestyle choices can affect their overall health.
Good health depends on a wide range of factors.
Genetic factors
A person is born with a variety of genes. In some people, an unusual genetic pattern or change can lead to a less-than-optimum level of health. People may inherit genes from their parents that increase their risk for certain health conditions.
Environmental factors
Environmental factors play a role in health. Sometimes, the environment alone is enough to impact health. Other times, an environmental trigger can cause illness in a person who has an increased genetic risk of a particular disease.
Access to healthcare plays a role, but the WHO suggests that the following factors may have a more significant impact on health than this:
where a person lives
the state of the surrounding environment
genetics
their income
their level of education
employment status
It is possible to categorize these as follows:
The social and economic environment: This may include the financial status of a family or community, as well as the social culture and quality of relationships.
The physical environment: This includes which germs exist in an area, as well as pollution levels.
A person’s characteristics and behaviors: A person’s genetic makeup and lifestyle choices can affect their overall health.
Posted by:
Rupali Jagtap
Posted on: #iteachmsu
Factors for good health
Regular exercise, balanced nutrition, and adequate rest all contrib...
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DISCIPLINARY CONTENT
Thursday, Dec 31, 2020
Posted on: #iteachmsu
NAVIGATING CONTEXT
A heart attack is also called a myocardial infarction.
Symptoms of a heart attack vary. Some people have mild symptoms. Others have severe symptoms. Some people have no symptoms.
Common heart attack symptoms include:
Chest pain that may feel like pressure, tightness, pain, squeezing or aching
Pain or discomfort that spreads to the shoulder, arm, back, neck, jaw, teeth or sometimes the upper belly
Cold sweat
Fatigue
Heartburn or indigestion
Lightheadedness or sudden dizziness
Nausea
Shortness of breath
Women may have atypical symptoms such as brief or sharp pain felt in the neck, arm or back. Sometimes, the first symptom sign of a heart attack is sudden cardiac arrest.
Some heart attacks strike suddenly. But many people have warning signs and symptoms hours, days or weeks in advance. Chest pain or pressure (angina) that keeps happening and doesn't go away with rest may be an early warning sign. Angina is caused by a temporary decrease in blood flow to the heart.
When to see a doctor
Get help right away if you think you're having a heart attack. Take these steps:
Call for emergency medical help. If you think you're having a heart attack, immediately call 911 or your local emergency number. If you don't have access to emergency medical services, have someone drive you to the nearest hospital. Drive yourself only if there are no other options.
Take nitroglycerin, if prescribed to you by a health care provider. Take it as instructed while awaiting emergency help.
Take aspirin, if recommended. Taking aspirin during a heart attack may reduce heart damage by preventing blood clotting.
Aspirin can interact with other drugs. Don't take an aspirin unless your care provider or emergency medical personnel say to do so. Don't delay calling 911 to take an aspirin. Call for emergency help first.
What to do if you see someone who might be having a heart attack
If someone is unconscious and you think they're having a heart attack, first call 911 or your local emergency number. Then check if the person is breathing and has a pulse. If the person isn't breathing or you don't find a pulse, only then should you begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
If you're untrained in CPR, do hands-only CPR. That means push hard and fast on the person's chest — about 100 to 120 compressions a minute.
If you're trained in CPR and confident in your ability, start with 30 chest compressions before giving two rescue breaths.
Common heart attack symptoms include:
Chest pain that may feel like pressure, tightness, pain, squeezing or aching
Pain or discomfort that spreads to the shoulder, arm, back, neck, jaw, teeth or sometimes the upper belly
Cold sweat
Fatigue
Heartburn or indigestion
Lightheadedness or sudden dizziness
Nausea
Shortness of breath
Women may have atypical symptoms such as brief or sharp pain felt in the neck, arm or back. Sometimes, the first symptom sign of a heart attack is sudden cardiac arrest.
Some heart attacks strike suddenly. But many people have warning signs and symptoms hours, days or weeks in advance. Chest pain or pressure (angina) that keeps happening and doesn't go away with rest may be an early warning sign. Angina is caused by a temporary decrease in blood flow to the heart.
When to see a doctor
Get help right away if you think you're having a heart attack. Take these steps:
Call for emergency medical help. If you think you're having a heart attack, immediately call 911 or your local emergency number. If you don't have access to emergency medical services, have someone drive you to the nearest hospital. Drive yourself only if there are no other options.
Take nitroglycerin, if prescribed to you by a health care provider. Take it as instructed while awaiting emergency help.
Take aspirin, if recommended. Taking aspirin during a heart attack may reduce heart damage by preventing blood clotting.
Aspirin can interact with other drugs. Don't take an aspirin unless your care provider or emergency medical personnel say to do so. Don't delay calling 911 to take an aspirin. Call for emergency help first.
What to do if you see someone who might be having a heart attack
If someone is unconscious and you think they're having a heart attack, first call 911 or your local emergency number. Then check if the person is breathing and has a pulse. If the person isn't breathing or you don't find a pulse, only then should you begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
If you're untrained in CPR, do hands-only CPR. That means push hard and fast on the person's chest — about 100 to 120 compressions a minute.
If you're trained in CPR and confident in your ability, start with 30 chest compressions before giving two rescue breaths.
Authored by:
Vijaya

Posted on: #iteachmsu

A heart attack is also called a myocardial infarction.
Symptoms of a heart attack vary. Some people have mild symptoms. Ot...
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NAVIGATING CONTEXT
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Posted on: #iteachmsu
DISCIPLINARY CONTENT
Tasks of Recruiters and How to Ease Them
The Covid-19 pandemic has created upheavals across industries and the year 2020 has seen unprecedented levels of unemployment. This means that hiring is becoming increasingly competitive due to the sheer volume of applicants, making the job of recruiters even more challenging. If at this time, your recruiters are busy doing their tasks manually, then most probably the goals that you would have laid out for your staffing firm this year are not going to be met or it would be challenging to meet them. Recruiters need to start thinking strategically for your firm to succeed in these times.
Technology is known for easing the challenges of any industry and staffing is no different. Irrespective of this global crisis, a strong technology stack can empower your recruiters and ensure that they face the challenges of the industry head on.
In this blog, we have listed some of the tedious tasks that recruiters have to do while hiring and how they can be eased with the use of technology.
Deal Sheets
Deal sheets, especially for healthcare staffing firms, require recruiters to perform the complex mathematical calculations and to determine rates and margins profitably. Deal sheets need to change on a client-by-client or job-by-job basis. This means changing burden types and rules for every single client or job.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Taxes need to be loaded in the calculation, orientation rates need to be set, overtime thresholds need to be set up, and more. Recruiters need to refer to the GSA database to populate lodging and per diem rates based on the location of the job.
If done manually this can be extremely complicated with a high risk of human error. An ATS that supports deal sheets configuration can be invaluable in such cases and can save a lot of time and improve productivity for recruiters.
How can TargetRecruit Help?
TargetRecruit’s Deal Sheets with Pay Packages feature helps recruiters dynamically confirm rates for both candidates and clients on the fly while adhering to contractual rates and maintaining margins. All the calculations are done on a deal sheets template, which can then be assigned to a client or a job. See this video and pdf to learn more.
To help close the loop, we offer the ability to send Pay Packages. Every time a job is created, including those from your VMS, and every time an applicant is created, including those from your website, you can automatically send formatted and personalized customized pay package emails to your candidates based on criteria you determine.
Emails
Most recruiters receive a huge volume of emails a day, from candidates or clients. In a scenario without the right technology in place, the recruiter will be moving back and forth between email and the ATS. So every time, a recruiter gets an email from a new contact or a candidate, he has to go to the ATS and create the profile manually. When a client sends a job order in an email, the job needs to be created in the ATS separately.
This may be manageable for smaller volumes but can easily tie up too much of a consultants time when the number of applicants increases, and can result in delays making candidates and jobs live, or result in only a selection of candidates making it into the ATS.
But, email is still the preferred communication channel for staffing firms, and it’s not going to change anytime soon. The solution is an ATS with a fully integrated email solution, allowing seamless blending of data between the email client and the ATS database. Candidate resumes and job briefs can be added in seconds and are immediately available for consultants to work on.
How can TargetRecruit Help?
With TargetRecruit Email Connector, TargetRecruit ATS can be integrated with Outlook or Gmail, you can view and access information about clients, candidates, and contacts directly from your inbox. Email integration will allow you to track all candidates and client emails automatically. You can quickly add a contact or a candidate from Outlook or Gmail, create job orders, parse resumes or add notes- all from your inbox. See this video and pdf to learn more.
Technology is known for easing the challenges of any industry and staffing is no different. Irrespective of this global crisis, a strong technology stack can empower your recruiters and ensure that they face the challenges of the industry head on.
In this blog, we have listed some of the tedious tasks that recruiters have to do while hiring and how they can be eased with the use of technology.
Deal Sheets
Deal sheets, especially for healthcare staffing firms, require recruiters to perform the complex mathematical calculations and to determine rates and margins profitably. Deal sheets need to change on a client-by-client or job-by-job basis. This means changing burden types and rules for every single client or job.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Taxes need to be loaded in the calculation, orientation rates need to be set, overtime thresholds need to be set up, and more. Recruiters need to refer to the GSA database to populate lodging and per diem rates based on the location of the job.
If done manually this can be extremely complicated with a high risk of human error. An ATS that supports deal sheets configuration can be invaluable in such cases and can save a lot of time and improve productivity for recruiters.
How can TargetRecruit Help?
TargetRecruit’s Deal Sheets with Pay Packages feature helps recruiters dynamically confirm rates for both candidates and clients on the fly while adhering to contractual rates and maintaining margins. All the calculations are done on a deal sheets template, which can then be assigned to a client or a job. See this video and pdf to learn more.
To help close the loop, we offer the ability to send Pay Packages. Every time a job is created, including those from your VMS, and every time an applicant is created, including those from your website, you can automatically send formatted and personalized customized pay package emails to your candidates based on criteria you determine.
Emails
Most recruiters receive a huge volume of emails a day, from candidates or clients. In a scenario without the right technology in place, the recruiter will be moving back and forth between email and the ATS. So every time, a recruiter gets an email from a new contact or a candidate, he has to go to the ATS and create the profile manually. When a client sends a job order in an email, the job needs to be created in the ATS separately.
This may be manageable for smaller volumes but can easily tie up too much of a consultants time when the number of applicants increases, and can result in delays making candidates and jobs live, or result in only a selection of candidates making it into the ATS.
But, email is still the preferred communication channel for staffing firms, and it’s not going to change anytime soon. The solution is an ATS with a fully integrated email solution, allowing seamless blending of data between the email client and the ATS database. Candidate resumes and job briefs can be added in seconds and are immediately available for consultants to work on.
How can TargetRecruit Help?
With TargetRecruit Email Connector, TargetRecruit ATS can be integrated with Outlook or Gmail, you can view and access information about clients, candidates, and contacts directly from your inbox. Email integration will allow you to track all candidates and client emails automatically. You can quickly add a contact or a candidate from Outlook or Gmail, create job orders, parse resumes or add notes- all from your inbox. See this video and pdf to learn more.
Posted by:
Kalon Locaz

Posted on: #iteachmsu

Tasks of Recruiters and How to Ease Them
The Covid-19 pandemic has created upheavals across industries and t...
Posted by:
DISCIPLINARY CONTENT
Wednesday, Dec 30, 2020
Posted on: #iteachmsu
Develop and actively communicate your course-level generative AI policy
1. Consider how AI technology might compel you to revise your course assignments, quizzes, and tests to avoid encouraging unethical or dishonest use of generative AI. 2. Develop and integrate a generative AI policy throughout the course resources:
Provide clear definitions, expectations, and repercussions of what will happen if students violate the policy.
Explain the standards of academic integrity in the course, especially as related to use of AI technologies, and review the Integrity of Scholarship and Grades Policy.
Be clear about what types of AI are acceptable and what versions of the technology students can use or not use.
Put this policy into D2L and any assignment instructions consistently.
3. Discuss these expectations when talking about course policies at the beginning of the course and remind students about them as you discuss course assignments:
Take time to explain to students the pros and cons of generative AI technologies relative to your course.
Explain the development of your policy and make clear the values, ethics, and philosophies underpinning its development.
Explain the repercussions of not following the course policy and submit an Academic Dishonesty Report if needed.
4. If you want to integrate AI in the classroom as an allowed or required resource:
Consult with MSU IT guidance about recommendations for use and adoption of generative AI technology, including guidelines for keeping you and your data safe.
Determine if MSU already has access to the tools you desire for free, and if not available through MSU, consider the cost and availability of the resources you will allow or require, and go through MSU's procurement process.
If you want to require students to use an AI technology that comes with a cost, put the resource into the scheduling system as you would a textbook, so students know that is an anticipated cost to them.
Provide clear definitions, expectations, and repercussions of what will happen if students violate the policy.
Explain the standards of academic integrity in the course, especially as related to use of AI technologies, and review the Integrity of Scholarship and Grades Policy.
Be clear about what types of AI are acceptable and what versions of the technology students can use or not use.
Put this policy into D2L and any assignment instructions consistently.
3. Discuss these expectations when talking about course policies at the beginning of the course and remind students about them as you discuss course assignments:
Take time to explain to students the pros and cons of generative AI technologies relative to your course.
Explain the development of your policy and make clear the values, ethics, and philosophies underpinning its development.
Explain the repercussions of not following the course policy and submit an Academic Dishonesty Report if needed.
4. If you want to integrate AI in the classroom as an allowed or required resource:
Consult with MSU IT guidance about recommendations for use and adoption of generative AI technology, including guidelines for keeping you and your data safe.
Determine if MSU already has access to the tools you desire for free, and if not available through MSU, consider the cost and availability of the resources you will allow or require, and go through MSU's procurement process.
If you want to require students to use an AI technology that comes with a cost, put the resource into the scheduling system as you would a textbook, so students know that is an anticipated cost to them.
Authored by:
Super admin user

Posted on: #iteachmsu
NAVIGATING CONTEXT
A Case for More Testing: The Benefits of Frequent, Low-Stakes Assessments
What if I told you about this magical teaching practice that, done even once, produces large improvements in student final exam scores[1], helps narrow the grade gap between poorly prepped and highly prepped first year college students[2], and might even result in more positive course reviews[3],[4]? What if I also told you this magical teaching practice is something you already know how to do? What if I told you, the secret to increasing your students’ success and overall satisfaction is……more TESTS!?
Okay…well to be fair, it’s a little more nuanced than that. While adding just one test to a class does indeed improve final exam scores, it turns out that more frequent, graded exercises in general improve learning outcomes for students [2],[5]. Even better – if these exercises are low stakes, they can improve learning outcomes without increasing student anxiety [4],[6].
We often view testing as an unpleasant but necessary way to assess student performance. It may be time for us to instead view testing as a useful teaching tool and to implement an assessment system that maximizes the potential learning benefits. In this post I will discuss the important known benefits of frequent, low stakes assessments as well as some practical tips for how to maximize these benefits without adding undue stress to your life or the lives of your students.
Benefit #1: “Thinking about thinking”
Testing can improve a student’s metacognition, or their ability to “think about thinking.” A good metacognitive thinker understands how their thought processes work and can pay attention to and change these processes [7]. A student with strong metacognitive skills can therefore more successfully monitor, evaluate, and improve their learning compared to students lacking these skills. Unfortunately, many students struggle with metacognition and must contend with “illusions of mastery” (or thinking they understand a subject better than they actually do). Self-testing is a good way to prevent illusions of mastery, but many students do not incorporate self-testing into their studying, instead electing more passive modes of exam preparation such as rereading texts[8]. Incorporating more testing into the curriculum forces students into the position of making mistakes and receiving feedback, allowing them to frequently measure their learning in relation to expectations and adjust accordingly. Again, note that providing feedback is an essential part of this process.
Benefit #2: Practice Remembering
Testing can improve a student’s long term memory of information presented in class by forcing students to recall what they’ve learned through a cognitive process called active retrieval. Active retrieval strengthens neural pathways important for retrieving memories, allowing these memories to be more easily accessed in the future.
While any sort of retrieval practice is useful, it is most beneficial when it is effortful, spaced, and interleaved. An example of effortful retrieval practice includes testing which forces students to provide the answers (i.e. Short answer and fill in the blank questions as opposed to multiple choice). More effortful retrieval also occurs with spaced and interleaved practice.
Spaced practice is testing that occurs after enough time has elapsed for some (but not complete) forgetting to occur (i.e. Present the information and then wait a couple months, days, or even just until the end of class to test students on it). Interleaved practice incorporates different but related topics and problem types, as opposed to having students practice and master one type at a time (e.g. cumulative testing where you mix problems from different units together). Interleaved practice can help students learn to focus on the underlying principles of problems and to discriminate between problem types, leading to more complex mental models and a deeper understanding of the relationships between ideas[6].
How to Implement More Assessments (Without Losing Your Mind)
So, all you have to do now is come up with a ton of quiz and test questions and free up a bunch of class time for assessments! Don’t forget you also need to grade all of these! After all, feedback is an important part of the process, and frequent (even low stakes) grading has the added benefits of enhancing student motivation, attentiveness, and attendance.I know what you busy teachers (ie. all of you) out there are thinking….“Your ”magical” teaching practice is starting to sound like a hugely effective pain in my butt.”
Don’t give up on me now though! There are some fairly simple ways to add more assessments to your curriculum. Furthermore, you should be able to do this sans student rebellion because these assessments are low-stakes. Frequent, low-stake assessments as opposed to infrequent, high-stakes assessments actually decrease student anxiety overall because no single test is a make it or break it event. In fact, several teachers have reported a large increase in positive student evaluations after restructuring their classes in this way[3],[4],[6]!
Below I lay out some tips for getting the most out of shifting your assessment practices while maintaining both your own and your students’ sanity:
1) Know that “effortful” testing is not always necessary
While effortful testing is best for retrieval practice, even basic, easily graded recognition tests such multiple choice questions still offer benefits, such as helping students remember basic (but important!) information[6],[9].
2) Create different assessment questions
You can also make assessments more effortful by creating questions that engage higher cognitive processes. Now you can sit back, relax, and indulge in one of my personal favorite pastimes (watching student brains explode) without the stressful grading!
3) Make use of educational technologies to ease your grading
For instance, clicker tests are a quick way to test students and allow you to provide feedback for the class all at once.
4) Make assessments into games
If your students need a morale boost, make a quiz into a trivia game and give winning groups candy. Some good old competition and Pavlovian conditioning may make students reassess their view of testing.
5) Assess participation
Doing something as simple as a participation grade will still provide students with incentive without overburdening them or yourself. For instance, this type of grading would work in conjunction with #3.
6) Keep graded assessments predictable
Making assessments predictable as opposed to utilizing pop quizzes helps students feel at ease.6 Furthermore, if they students KNOW an assessment is coming, they are more likely to study and pay attention.
7) Find ways to revisit old material in your assessments
Making assessments cumulative is an effective way to space out your review of material and has the added benefit of making problems interleaved and effortful, all of which maximize retrieval practice[6].
8) Have students reflect on mistakes
You can help students develop metacognitive skills by giving them opportunities to reflect upon and correct their mistakes on assessments. For instance, have students take a quiz and then discuss their answers/thinking with their classmates before receiving feedback. You can also give students opportunities to create keys to short answer questions and grade their own and several (anonymous) classmates’ answers. This will allow them to think through what makes an answer complete and effective.
9) Break large assessments into small ones
Instead of creating new assessments, break up large ones into multiple, lower-stakes assessments. For example, consider replacing big tests with several quizzes. Consider scaffolding large projects such as independent research projects and term papers. Ask for outlines, lists of references, graphs, etc. along the course of the semester before the final project is due. This might cause more work for you in the short term but can help prevent complete disasters at the end of the semester, which can be time consuming.
10) Utilize short daily or weekly quizzes
If you don’t want to adjust a big project/test or lose class time by adding time-consuming assessments, consider adding short daily or weekly quizzes. These grades can add up to equal one test grade. One could consider dropping the lowest score(s) but allowing no make ups to reduce logistical issues.
These are only a few of the many strategies one can use to transition to a frequent, low-stakes assessment system. What are your experiences with low stakes assessments? Have you made use of any which seem particularly effective in enhancing student learning?
Related Reading:
Much of the information about the benefits of testing is from:
Brown, P.C., Roediger III, H.L., McDaniel, M.A. (2014). Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Okay…well to be fair, it’s a little more nuanced than that. While adding just one test to a class does indeed improve final exam scores, it turns out that more frequent, graded exercises in general improve learning outcomes for students [2],[5]. Even better – if these exercises are low stakes, they can improve learning outcomes without increasing student anxiety [4],[6].
We often view testing as an unpleasant but necessary way to assess student performance. It may be time for us to instead view testing as a useful teaching tool and to implement an assessment system that maximizes the potential learning benefits. In this post I will discuss the important known benefits of frequent, low stakes assessments as well as some practical tips for how to maximize these benefits without adding undue stress to your life or the lives of your students.
Benefit #1: “Thinking about thinking”
Testing can improve a student’s metacognition, or their ability to “think about thinking.” A good metacognitive thinker understands how their thought processes work and can pay attention to and change these processes [7]. A student with strong metacognitive skills can therefore more successfully monitor, evaluate, and improve their learning compared to students lacking these skills. Unfortunately, many students struggle with metacognition and must contend with “illusions of mastery” (or thinking they understand a subject better than they actually do). Self-testing is a good way to prevent illusions of mastery, but many students do not incorporate self-testing into their studying, instead electing more passive modes of exam preparation such as rereading texts[8]. Incorporating more testing into the curriculum forces students into the position of making mistakes and receiving feedback, allowing them to frequently measure their learning in relation to expectations and adjust accordingly. Again, note that providing feedback is an essential part of this process.
Benefit #2: Practice Remembering
Testing can improve a student’s long term memory of information presented in class by forcing students to recall what they’ve learned through a cognitive process called active retrieval. Active retrieval strengthens neural pathways important for retrieving memories, allowing these memories to be more easily accessed in the future.
While any sort of retrieval practice is useful, it is most beneficial when it is effortful, spaced, and interleaved. An example of effortful retrieval practice includes testing which forces students to provide the answers (i.e. Short answer and fill in the blank questions as opposed to multiple choice). More effortful retrieval also occurs with spaced and interleaved practice.
Spaced practice is testing that occurs after enough time has elapsed for some (but not complete) forgetting to occur (i.e. Present the information and then wait a couple months, days, or even just until the end of class to test students on it). Interleaved practice incorporates different but related topics and problem types, as opposed to having students practice and master one type at a time (e.g. cumulative testing where you mix problems from different units together). Interleaved practice can help students learn to focus on the underlying principles of problems and to discriminate between problem types, leading to more complex mental models and a deeper understanding of the relationships between ideas[6].
How to Implement More Assessments (Without Losing Your Mind)
So, all you have to do now is come up with a ton of quiz and test questions and free up a bunch of class time for assessments! Don’t forget you also need to grade all of these! After all, feedback is an important part of the process, and frequent (even low stakes) grading has the added benefits of enhancing student motivation, attentiveness, and attendance.I know what you busy teachers (ie. all of you) out there are thinking….“Your ”magical” teaching practice is starting to sound like a hugely effective pain in my butt.”
Don’t give up on me now though! There are some fairly simple ways to add more assessments to your curriculum. Furthermore, you should be able to do this sans student rebellion because these assessments are low-stakes. Frequent, low-stake assessments as opposed to infrequent, high-stakes assessments actually decrease student anxiety overall because no single test is a make it or break it event. In fact, several teachers have reported a large increase in positive student evaluations after restructuring their classes in this way[3],[4],[6]!
Below I lay out some tips for getting the most out of shifting your assessment practices while maintaining both your own and your students’ sanity:
1) Know that “effortful” testing is not always necessary
While effortful testing is best for retrieval practice, even basic, easily graded recognition tests such multiple choice questions still offer benefits, such as helping students remember basic (but important!) information[6],[9].
2) Create different assessment questions
You can also make assessments more effortful by creating questions that engage higher cognitive processes. Now you can sit back, relax, and indulge in one of my personal favorite pastimes (watching student brains explode) without the stressful grading!
3) Make use of educational technologies to ease your grading
For instance, clicker tests are a quick way to test students and allow you to provide feedback for the class all at once.
4) Make assessments into games
If your students need a morale boost, make a quiz into a trivia game and give winning groups candy. Some good old competition and Pavlovian conditioning may make students reassess their view of testing.
5) Assess participation
Doing something as simple as a participation grade will still provide students with incentive without overburdening them or yourself. For instance, this type of grading would work in conjunction with #3.
6) Keep graded assessments predictable
Making assessments predictable as opposed to utilizing pop quizzes helps students feel at ease.6 Furthermore, if they students KNOW an assessment is coming, they are more likely to study and pay attention.
7) Find ways to revisit old material in your assessments
Making assessments cumulative is an effective way to space out your review of material and has the added benefit of making problems interleaved and effortful, all of which maximize retrieval practice[6].
8) Have students reflect on mistakes
You can help students develop metacognitive skills by giving them opportunities to reflect upon and correct their mistakes on assessments. For instance, have students take a quiz and then discuss their answers/thinking with their classmates before receiving feedback. You can also give students opportunities to create keys to short answer questions and grade their own and several (anonymous) classmates’ answers. This will allow them to think through what makes an answer complete and effective.
9) Break large assessments into small ones
Instead of creating new assessments, break up large ones into multiple, lower-stakes assessments. For example, consider replacing big tests with several quizzes. Consider scaffolding large projects such as independent research projects and term papers. Ask for outlines, lists of references, graphs, etc. along the course of the semester before the final project is due. This might cause more work for you in the short term but can help prevent complete disasters at the end of the semester, which can be time consuming.
10) Utilize short daily or weekly quizzes
If you don’t want to adjust a big project/test or lose class time by adding time-consuming assessments, consider adding short daily or weekly quizzes. These grades can add up to equal one test grade. One could consider dropping the lowest score(s) but allowing no make ups to reduce logistical issues.
These are only a few of the many strategies one can use to transition to a frequent, low-stakes assessment system. What are your experiences with low stakes assessments? Have you made use of any which seem particularly effective in enhancing student learning?
Related Reading:
Much of the information about the benefits of testing is from:
Brown, P.C., Roediger III, H.L., McDaniel, M.A. (2014). Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Posted by:
Chathuri Super admin..
Posted on: #iteachmsu
A Case for More Testing: The Benefits of Frequent, Low-Stakes Assessments
What if I told you about this magical teaching practice that, done ...
Posted by:
NAVIGATING CONTEXT
Monday, Aug 6, 2018