CPR Symposium 2007
Concurrent Sessions
(Concurrent sessions are listen in alphabetical order of the last name of the first presenter)
Using CPR To Revive Students: How CPR Helps Them get Into and Out of College
Devon Hackelton & Len Vandegrift, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona:Besides its traditional service in classes, CPR is being utilized to help students prepare for entrance and exit essay exams. This presentation will discuss two specific exams, the campus-specific Graduate Writing Test (GWT) and the California State University-wide English Placement Test (EPT) and how the CPR program has been integrated into exam-preparation contexts. The local GWT-CPR program targets students who have repeatedly failed the GWT. Students who participated in the program have, on average, almost double the exam pass rate compared to similar groups who have not participated in the program. Based on this local success, the California State University has designed the larger EPT-CPR program to assist high school students and their teachers in preparation for the CSU English Placement Test specifically (as well as the essay portion of the SAT exam). This free essay preparation is offered as a way to reduce the number of in-coming college freshmen that need remediation in English and is part of the CSU’s Early Assessment Program (EAP) which was lauded as an innovative example of collaboration between colleges and high schools by the Spellings Commission Report, A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U.S. Higher Education, in September, 2006.
Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) in Teacher-Education Language Arts and Writing Classes: Experiences and Implications
Frances A. Hunter & Shannon R. Burnett, Texas A&M University:Attendees will be introduced to Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) and shown examples of CPR assignments being used and created in the teacher-preparation language arts and writing courses in the College of Education and Human Development. Examples will include dialogue journal reflections, reading/writing workshop essays, research-based essays, and feedback provided by students to the system.
Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) in Teacher-Education Language Arts and Writing Classes: Experiences and Implications
Frances A. Hunter & Shannon R. Burnett, Texas A&M University:Attendees will be introduced to Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) and shown examples of CPR assignments being used and created in the teacher-preparation language arts and writing courses in the College of Education and Human Development. Examples will include dialogue journal reflections, reading/writing workshop essays, research-based essays, and feedback provided by students to the system.
Overcoming Student Resistance to a Teaching Innovation (#1)
Wendy L. Keeney-Kennicutt, Texas A&M University:This mixed-methods study investigated student perceptions of an innovative educational tool and the instructor strategies that helped change initial student resistance into acceptance and engagement. The educational tool in this study is Calibrated Peer Review (CPR TM), a web-based program that uses writing as a learning and assessment tool. Evaluations of CPR from 1,515 students in a general chemistry course over seven semesters were analyzed. Analysis revealed various reasons why students liked or disliked CPR and how the instructor modified implementation in order to provide students with a more positive experience. Analysis of student perceptions suggests that successful implementation of new tools requires attention to potential sources of student resistance at the outset as well as active listening and response to student concerns.
Factors Affecting Student Acceptance of CPR (#2)
Wendy L. Keeney-Kennicutt, Texas A&M UniversityThis mixed-methods study investigated several factors which might predict the level of student acceptance of CPR as a learning tool, including gender, CPR score, class grade and learning style. CPR evaluations and data from 209 general chemistry students in Spring 2006 were analyzed and results will be shared.
A Rubric for Assessing Calibrated Peer Review Assignment Design
Jean Layne and Nancy Simpson, Texas A&M UniversityThe quality of work in Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) is directly related to the quality of the assignment design. Assessing the quality of assignments is a significant step in promoting student learning. Team members from an NSF-sponsored project have developed an assignment assessment rubric designed to assist faculty in evaluating the quality of their assignment before they post it by continually pulling their focus back to clear communication regarding student learning objectives.
Using Calibrated Peer ReviewTM to Teach Patient Note Writing to Medical Students
Teresita McCarty, Marie Parkes, Summers Kalishman, University of New Mexico School of Medicine:The University of New Mexico School of Medicine adapted Calibrated Peer Review™ (CPR™) to help instruct and assess medical students’ patient note writing.
Method: At the end of the third year of medical school, 67 students were divided into three groups. Students completed an introduction to the CPR™ program and received instruction in writing focused clinical notes. Each student cohort then completed the entire CPR™ process for three assignments that used videotaped clinical encounters as triggers. These assignments were presented in different order for each group. After the three CPR™ assignments were finished, students completed an evaluation about the learning value of the CPR™ experience.
Results: Peer-reviewed note scores improved significantly from the first to the third assignment (p=0.0002); this finding was confirmed by blinded faculty graders (p=0.004). Scores did not differ significantly between groups among the three assignments (p=0.75). Students reported, with moderate-to-large effect sizes, that they were better able to include the essential information in a clinical note, discriminate between well-written and poorly written notes, and critically assess their own notes after their experience with CPR™. They also strongly endorsed the importance of receiving feedback.
How effectively is CPR being used? An analysis of assignments from the CPR server library
Julie Reynolds & Cary Moskovitz , Duke University:CPR is appealing not only because it requires minimal involvement – and no grading of student writing – by instructors, but also because of claims that it is an effective and efficient tool for promoting critical thinking and for helping students develop writing skills. However, such claims imply that CPR has a built-in pedagogy, and that students will automatically learn to write and think critically simply by using CPR. In fact, CPR only facilitates peer review; it is the assignments themselves that must be designed to promote critical thinking and the development of writing skills. Nevertheless, given the fact that the single most challenging and time-consuming aspect of adopting CPR is creating new assignments (including the three calibration essays), instructors new to CPR are encouraged to adapt assignments from the CPR server library, a repository of assignments contributed by other registered users. In fact, both whole assignments and particular questions have been widely replicated, and as a result, much of the pedagogy underlying CPR assignments comes from assignment propagation. Given the importance and inherent challenges of improving undergraduates’ communication and reasoning abilities, and since instructors seem to be increasingly turning to CPR for help in addressing these challenges, we need to know if assignments being implemented within the CPR framework are meeting these needs, or if instructors are putting misplaced trust in this educational technology. Therefore, we have undertaken an analysis to determine whether or not CPR assignments tend to engage students in activities that could, at least theoretically, foster the development of advanced reasoning and writing abilities.
Using Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) to Improve Students’ Ability to Evaluate Technical Posters in a Bioengineering Laboratory
Tracy Volz & Ann Saterbak, Rice University:In 2006 we introduced CPR in an upper-level tissue culture laboratory course to enhance students’ technical critiquing skills. In this lab students conduct viability, attachment, and proliferation assays using fibroblast cells and then design posters presenting their experimental results. The posters are uploaded as texts to CPR. During the calibration, peer-critiquing and self-evaluation stages, students respond to 15 statements evaluating each poster’s technical argument and visual appeal. Based on peer and instructor feedback, students revise posters for a final grade.
Our CPR assignment has evolved and become more effective over time. In 2006 we developed instructional materials, devised a process to support Power Point files, and created a CPR user’s guide, which were successful. Unfortunately, we made mistakes in designing the calibration activity, and it failed to standardize the peer evaluation. In 2007 we replaced calibration samples, relaxed the standard deviation, and coached students to record calibration responses, which led to a better outcome.
In 2006 and 2007 a majority of students reported on surveys that their critiquing skills, especially their ability to recognize poor technical arguments, data presentation and organization, improved as a result of this assignment.* Overall, we believe CPR effectively facilitates peer review and enhances bioengineers’ ability to evaluate posters.
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* We are currently analyzing the peer responses captured in CPR to determine whether students provide consistent, accurate feedback to their peers.
Fundamental Writing Skills and CPR: Are Our Assumptions Fair and Accurate?
Nancy Small, Texas A&M UniversityA survey of TAMU CPR users and an analysis of published CPR assignments indicate these trends:
- writing improvement is a primary objective in the use of CPR,
- CPR is used most often in the science and math disciplines,
- very little, if any, instruction or support materials relating to writing are provided.
This presentation has the following objectives:
- to discuss the design and expectations of published CPR assignments in regards to the level of student writing abilities,
- to indicate concerns regarding the assumptions of student ability,
- to illustrate that calibration examples's may not accurately demonstrate basic writing skills, and
- to suggest some practical solutions for improving the design of CPR assignments.
