MOSART Website

I wasn't sure what I was going to get as I registered for this website. Normally when you have to register for a site there is some sort of money involved, but I figured since it was for class that wasn't the case. When the website fully opened I was a little confused as to what exactly I was supposed to do, so I basically clicked on a bunch of links to see where it would take me. When I finally found my way to the tutorials, I was not ready to sit for 45 minutes to read a website. I was pleasantly surprised that most of the tutorials until the last one consisted of a short video. As a visual learner it was easier for me to sit down and watch some short videos with light reading, than having to sit and read off of my computer which is not something I like doing. One thing that I liked that every tutorial did was ask us a question. It was like they were giving us a pre-test on the information we were going to learn and that got my thinking jump-started.

The first tutorial explains what a misconception actually is and the video that goes with it I found very interesting. When one student was explaining what she thought the shape of the heart, she explained that she thought it was like a traditional Valentine's Day heart, but after learning about it in class changed her misconception. I also found it interesting that some of the students knew more than the teacher had taught them and had learned it from their older siblings. Being the oldest in my family, I forgot how much of an impact I had on what my brother was learning.

The second tutorial explains that the test is different from every other assessment exams because they include questions from every level, including questions that exceed the level of the students. This is probably one of the smartest ideas for assessing your students. Why would teachers have exams that only focus on one of the three different sections in the Continuum of Understanding as MOSART puts it. It makes more sense to test everyone at every level to get true results, so that as teachers we can correctly teach the things our students are struggling with.

The third tutorial was based on how teachers should use the tests within there classroom, to promote learning and to help correct some of the misconceptions that the students may have. I like that the website gives reasons for why the test is constructed the way it is and that the tests are able to determine the whether misconceptions exist among the students. I thought the idea of pre and post testing with parallel exams was also a great idea because it helps the teacher determine how well the students actually absorbed the material.

The fourth tutorial, I am not a fan of, was about how to interpret the tests after you give them. It has nothing to do with the material because that part is exceptional. I just don't like reading on my computer. I actually liked the information that this tutorial specifically talked about. It gave a ton of graphs and tables with example information about how the different classes compared to each other based on the test. This tutorial, although the worst one to read, was probably more beneficial than the others.  By giving teachers the most ways to use the tests to not only our advantage, but the students as well.

This website I think is one of those that I will make sure to keep in my bookmarks and one that I will probably use as a teacher. Are there any other tests like this for other subjects?