Application of CATs in a nursing course - Research Paper Example

Application room Assessment Techniques (CATs) in a Nursing Introduction room assessment techniques (CATS) are a teaching approach that is based on the ascertaining what the students are learning and how they are doing it in the learning environment. The basis of the use of CAT is in the belief that such an understanding makes for more efficient planning of learning activities in the delivery of the teaching material (Classroom Assessment Techniques). Classroom assessment techniques (CATs) CATs are made up of ten techniques, which may be classified into two groups of techniques.

The first group of techniques consisting of Chain Notes, Electronic Mail Feedback, Teacher-Designed Feedback Forms, Group Instructional Feedback Technique, and Classroom Assessment Quality Circles, offers a means for assessment of the student reactions to the teacher and the teaching style of the teacher. The second group of techniques namely Recall, Summarize, Question, Comment, and Connect (RSQC2), Group-Work Evaluations, Reading Rating Sheets, and Assignment Assessments, instead focuses the assessment on the reactions of the students to the activities, assignments, and materials used in the learning environment (Angelo).

The essential purpose of Chain Notes is to provide the limited information of the level of engagement and involvement of the students to a particular teaching activity. The Electronic Mail Feedback serves the purpose of providing a channel of communication through which information can be gathered on the basis of the answers provided by the students to questions posed to them. Teacher Designed Feedback Forms provide an easy and quick means to get focused information from students. There are three questions that are central to the efficiency of learning in classrooms namely what students think is aiding their learning process, what are the obstacles in the learning process, and what are the specific suggestions they have to offer for making the learning process more efficient.

The Group Instructional Feedback Technique provides a means for teachers to find answers to these questions. Classroom Assessment Quality Circles serve two purposes. The first is that they are the means through which student assessment feedback on their class lesions, readings, exams, and major assignments can be collected. The second purpose lies in the role that it can play in providing a structured and positive means for students play a more active role in the learning activities in the classrooms (Angelo).

RSCQ2 technique permits the comparison the ability to recall, understand, and evaluate a class session. It is also capable of informing the teaching faculty on the doubts and comments of the students that need their attention. It also offers reflection to the students on the activities that have taken place in the learning environment. Group-Work Evaluations enable the assessment of what is going well in a group activity and what is not doing, through this enables the means to avoid conflicts in the group activity.

Reading Rating Sheets is the facility whereby the teaching faculty the feedback on how the students rate the reading materials of their course. The Assignment Assignments perform a similar function in relation to the learning value that the homework, papers and assignments deliver to the students Again Exam Evaluations are similar to the previous two CATS, and assesses the student reactions specific to examinations and tests (Angelo). My Choice of CAT I believe that RCSQ2 is the CAT that is suitable for application to teaching nursing staff in a pediatric ward.

My reasoning for this runs as follows. The first five CATs are essentially aid in assessments in of the students’ perceptions of the teacher and teaching style that is meaningful in a classroom environment. Having moved out of the classroom the activity is no longer teacher centric, but subject and response centric, which in this case are the pediatric patients and the quality of their life and the response of the students to this exposure. This learning environment rules out the suitability of the first five CATs.

Four of the CATs in the remaining five have specific value in terms of group interactions, reading material value assessment, value of homework and assignments, and student reactions to exams and tests. It is only the RSCQ2 that performs the assessment of understanding, recall, and evaluation of the exposure to the problems pediatric patients experience in the clinical environment and the response the students to this exposure. In addition it also offers the means to instilling reflecting attitudes in the students with respect to the role that is expected of them in improving the quality of life of their patients.

Literary ReferencesAngelo. Classroom Assessment Techniques.Classroom Assessment Techniques. Retrieved April 18, 2009, from Web Site: http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/assess.htm