Are the learners able to measure their progress and is the teacher able to assure that the instruction is effectively meeting the needs of the learners? Let's look at some tests and diagnostic tools that provide insight into the effectiveness of instruction.
Resilience TestingThe resilience instructional materials, presented here, evolved from a university program and are written for a teen to adult audience. As such, if the instruction is followed, you should expect to see statistically significant gains in general resilience from pre-learning to post learning in groups of ten or more learners. Best outcomes occur when learning in a group setting, though conferencing formats rather than face-to-face are possible. Using pseudonyms with testing, instead of real names, can improve test accuracy. The following testing materials may aid you.
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Diagnostic 'App'
Specifics: CatTrax initially provides a brief plain English description identifying problematic student related issues. Next a more detailed graphical and tabled results provides summary results for each student, their correctness score, standard error or measurement, true measure of ability, z-score, and caution index. The caution index established by Sato, Harnish and Linn, assigns a numeric value based on the observed versus the expected responses. Cautionary students show patterns that are atypical of their group, and thus provides an opportunity to address a potentially ‘at-risk’ learner at an early stage when remediation is viable. Item analysis provides test item correctness, difficulty level, discrimination index, and a caution index in either split-half or split-third formats depending upon class size. Cautionary test items may be the result of a poorly written item, ethnic, experiential, gender, or instructional bias or where a potential mismatch between instructional practices and content occurs and results in learner confusion. CatTrax is freely available as source code for your use and modification through the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
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CatTrax is a server-based diagnostic program that works with any test results to improve learning and curriculum design. It can be used in a formative manner to better tailor new learning to diverse settings and audiences whether through classroom-oriented instruction or non-traditional instructional methods. CatTrax can be used to help identify not only what is easy or hard, but areas of curricular confusion, as well as learners who may be experiencing confusion. This means that potentially at-risk learners can be identified at an early stage when intervention is most effective. This process yields far more insight than traditional right/wrong correctness testing for developing the most effective learning and aiding you as an instructor.