Mastering Castle Learning: Strategies and Tips for Academic Success
The efforts of state education agencies and local school districts to ensure that all students meet academic proficiency goals and all schools make adequate yearly progress in closing the achievement gap have led to an increased focus on formative assessment. Formative assessment has recently emerged as one of the more promising strategies for improving student learning. Castle Learning Online directly addresses the formative assessment model. As a Curriculum Based Measurement (CBM), Castle Learning Online provides a web-based review, testing, and assessment tool for teachers, students and their parents. By using Castle Learning, with its extensive database of questions, hints, defined vocabulary and reasons, teachers can provide assignments that are current and can gain week-by-week information on the progress students are making toward learning the content for the academic year. As a result, teachers can monitor the success of the instruction students receive. This article explores effective strategies and tips to maximize the benefits of Castle Learning and achieve academic success.
Understanding Formative Assessment and Castle Learning Online
In the effort to demystify formative assessment, researchers have explained how the term should and should not be used. First, it is not simply testing at periodic intervals, such as twice each year or even once each week. In order to improve this instruction, the teacher uses any tool that can provide feedback that will direct his/her lessons or adjust daily teaching methods in order to improve student achievement. Formative assessment is therefore not an “event,” but a “process” that is embedded in instruction to redirect teaching and learning in ways that help students master learning goals.
Castle Learning Online directly addresses the formative assessment model. As a Curriculum Based Measurement (CBM), Castle Learning Online provides a web-based review, testing, and assessment tool for teachers, students and their parents. By using Castle Learning, with its extensive database of questions, hints, defined vocabulary and reasons, teachers can provide assignments that are current and can gain week-by-week information on the progress students are making toward learning the content for the academic year. As a result, teachers can monitor the success of the instruction students receive.
Creating a Structured Learning Environment
Importance of Organization and Scheduling
Be organized. Make a schedule that includes all of your courses, deadlines, assignments, etc. Schedule time for studying. Having a schedule will help you to stay focused on the tasks you need to accomplish to be successful in your learning. Your schedule should include time for other things that are important to you also.
Minimizing Distractions
Acknowledge that distraction is a risk that could affect your learning. Try to work in a quiet place if possible. Try to avoid multitasking if you are focused on learning. Distractions are common with online learning, and can prevent your success.
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Overcoming Procrastination
Avoid procrastination. Without having a normally structured routine, procrastination may be more of an issue for some students.
Leveraging Existing Learning Strategies
Adapting Successful Methods
Use and adapt your normal strategies that have been successful to promote your learning in other contexts.
Utilizing Collaborative Learning
If you have benefited from studying with a partner or group, see if you can still find ways to engage in that interaction using technologies like Zoom or Slack.
Engaging with Instructors and Peers
Participating in Learning Sessions
Engage in sessions intended to help you with your learning. If your instructors have synchronous (real-time) or asynchronous (at your convenience) office hours, make use of these sessions to ask questions. If your courses have synchronous or asynchronous discussion opportunities, participate in these sessions to gain opportunities to practice and share what you are learning, and/or learn from others.
Seeking Assistance
Ask for help. If you are having problems with technical aspects, understanding content, meeting deadlines, or something else relating to your learning, communicate with your instructors. They can only help you if they know what issues you are having.
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Maintaining Motivation
Staying Motivated
Stay motivated. Issues with motivation are challenging at the present time. If you are having trouble with motivation, try checking in with your relevant network.
CASTLE Workshop: Coordinating and Advancing Statistical Teaching and Learning
Awardees organized a two-day workshop held to bring together faculty and instructors from across the university to discuss pedagogical strategies for teaching statistics. The workshop-dubbed CASTLE: Coordinating and Advancing Statistical Teaching and Learning-took place on April 11-12, 2014 in the Lamont Forum Room. Around 30 participants engaged in presentations and conversation about the teaching of statistics and machine learning, pedagogical innovations, favorite examples, common misconceptions and roadblocks, TF training, online education, and assessment.
Key Discussions and Outcomes
Joe Blitzstein, one of the event organizers, said multiple participants expressed that they were amazed to see how many people at Harvard are teaching statistics since they rarely cross paths in their day-to-day activities. “There are so many statistics courses taught in the various schools at Harvard, but so little communication and coordination for sharing new ideas, data, and resources.”
Blitzstein and his collaborators deliberately set an informal agenda structure, inviting everyone to present their teaching and methodology, but allowing lots of time for Q&A and discussion. Those who taught introductory courses presented earlier in the workshop, followed by more advanced courses. Participants found that many similar concepts emerged, but that they learned different applications from one another.
Future Iterations
Moving forward, the workshop will likely be offered as an annual one-day event. Blitzstein said it is possible that future iterations will include themed sections in addition to pedagogy, such as where to get data and how to clean a data set. He also emphasized that students benefit from this increased exposure to the greater statistics community on campus, as participating instructors will be more informed academic advisors.
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