In preliminary studies of LAs in action, members of our research team found the four main LA actions observed (over four different LA settings in four different departments) were teaching with formative assessment, direct instruction, establishing comfort, and sharing study strategies and resources.
Two studies evaluated Recognition & Response (R&R)—an instructional system consisting of formative assessment, foundational instruction, and targeted small-group lessons designed for use with pre-kindergarteners.
Interestingly, eight of the most popular EBIPs are common to all three disciplines (animations, case studies, clickers, collaborative learning, computer simulations, formative assessment, peer instruction, and think-pair-share) and four more EBIPs are popular among two of the disciplines (concept inventories, interactive demonstrations, Just-in-Time Teaching, and Problem-Based Learning).
Using natural language understanding techniques, Guru analyses student utterances (e.g. typed answers, summaries, responses to cloze exercises, completion of concept maps) to obtain data for the learner model and then provides appropriate instruction and formative feedback.
Pioneered for physics courses in large part by Mazur (1997), the technique has since spread to most disciplines, combining the benefits of peer instruction and formative feedback in a way that is more effective than lecture (Hake, 1998; Preszler et al., 2007).
Elements of formative assessment, inherent in authentic instruction, are crucial in developing students' understanding of the subject matter.
One major study Schoettler cites concludes that the most important factor affecting student achievement is feedback, which can be generated using formative assessments and then tailoring instruction to each student's needs based on the results.
Topic: Seasons Objective: Students demonstrate growth in writing from instruction based on previous formative writing sample.
With digital content providing access to more student data, formative assessment of their understanding during instruction provides both the student and the teacher feedback that can be used to quickly assess learning, adapt content, personalize instruction, and improve outcomes.
