Accessing Particular Diagnoser Tools as a Teacher
Registering
Go to Diagnoser.com Where the page says “Teacher Tools” click on “register”.
Your registration information will NOT be shared with anyone other than the researcher developers working with you and/or studying Diagnoser. Use your email address that you plan to use with your students.
Logging in as a Teacher (after you are registered)
Click on “Teacher login”.
Enter your Username and Password from your registration.
Registering Class(es)
Click “Classes” on the left.
Under “Current Classes”, click on “+add class”.
Complete the class information under “Update Class”.
If you are a teacher, use a class name, e.g. “Period 1 Physics” that you will recognize.
If you are not a teacher, but want to use Diagnoser, use “other” for “Subject” and something like “Workshop” or “Trying system” that you will recognize as your “class”.
Enter the number of students in your class. You will be able to add more students later as needed.
Click on “Create” after completing the information.
The Diagnoser system will give you ID#s and PWs for the number of students you put in. You can then write in student’s name next to each ID and PW. This file can be exported to Excel, if desired. Students’ names will not be kept in the system.
Make a copy of the list for your records and hand each student his/her login and PW.
Assigning a Diagnoser Set
Click “Assignments” on the left.
Click “Explore and Assign Sets”.
Select the content unit for which you want to assess and click on “assign”.
For example, for the Density Unit, click on “Properties of Matter”. Then click on “+Characteristic Properties of Matter”. Then next to Density Concepts, click on “assign” for Set 1. “Density Concepts 1” will pop up for which you select a class and due date for the created assignment.
Scroll down to Review and Manage Assignments to see that the “Density Concepts Set 1” shows up next to that class name with the appropriate due date. As students complete and submit their assignment, it will show up at right.
Logging in as a Student
Have students go to Diagnoser.com
Click on “Student Login”.
Have them enter the Username and Password you gave them. (Caution them to include the entire username, including the dashes.
Accessing the Teacher Report
Click on “Assignments” on the left side.
Scroll down to Review and Manage Assignments.
Choose the “Question Set” of interest. At right in the table note how many students have finished the assignment.
At the far right in the table, there is a tiny printer icon. Click on that to view a printable copy of the report for that class for that assessment.
Reading and Interpreting the Teacher Report
Problematic Facets to Address
You see the two problematic facets that occurred most frequently for that class for that unit. Red indicates the most frequent and yellow the second most frequently occurring diagnosed facet. Under that if you click on “Feedback to Student” you will see the feedback received by each student for whom that was one of their most frequent diagnoses. Clicking on “Related Prescriptive Activities” and scrolling down you will find next activities to do to address each of the problematic facets. The activities are listed below the appropriate facet number.
Problematic Facets Diagnosed
The graph at the upper right shows the Percent of the class that was diagnosed with each facet “at least Once” (tab at upper left of graph) or “at Least Twice”. Under each bar in the graph are the “Student IDs” associated with each bar for the facets for which that student was diagnosed, showing a response with that diagnosis “at least twice” or “at least once”.
Class Average Correct
At the lower left is the average percent for the class for choice of the optimal (most correct) response.
Show Details
Clicking on “Show Details” will open a longer report table that will show the performance and facet diagnosis for each response for each student on each question he/she encountered. Question Details- Clicking on a question number at the top of a column will “Display Question”. Clicking on “Display Results” at the bottom will show bar graph indicating the number of students who chose each response to that question. “Show Facets” will display the facet associated with each response.
NOTE: The Teacher Report is for the teacher. We recommend you do NOT show this to the students. However, for next-day discussions the teacher may want to show the Display Question” and Display Results” to stimulate discussions centered around the question, “Why might an intelligent person trying to make sense choose this response?” This can demonstrate the assumption that students are intelligent and trying to make sense. Having all students in the class consider what seems like it makes sense and what does work and what doesn’t work in each response can help students be prepared for discussing and developing evidence-based scientific arguments with claims and counterclaims.
Accessing Content Assessments and Activities
Click on “Content Resources” on the left side of the Home page.
That will open up the topics of subject matter in Diagnoser Tools. Clicking on any one of the topics (e.g. “Properties of Matter”) will present the strands of content (e.g. “Characteristic Properties of Substances”. Clicking on that strand will give you the related units (e.g. “Density Concepts”).
Clicking on the unit will give you a whole set of tools for teaching that unit, including the following:
Learning Goals for the unit (BMSL, NSES, and we are beginning to put in NGSS goals)
Facet Cluster of goal facets and problematic facets (aka misconceptions)
Elicitation assessment questions for engaging student thinking early in the unit
Developmental Lessons for helping students develop from their initial ideas toward the goal understanding
Diagnoser Question Sets to assess student’s learning progress in the unit
Prescriptive Activities designed to address particular problematic facets that might show up in the Teacher Report from students completing assigned sets.