Skip to content

Focus and Action of Students and Teachers Observation Protocol (FASTOP)

What is FASTOP?

FASTOP is a classroom observation protocol intended to monitor the focus (e.g., solo, pair, team, or whole class) and action (e.g., discuss, speak/present, watch/listen, or distracted) of both students and teachers (instructors).

How to use FASTOP? (Quick Start)

Who could use FASTOP?

  • coaches and mentors of learner-centered practitioners
  • experienced practitioners who want data on their classes
  • administrators who evaluate teaching
  • researchers who study learner-centered classrooms

What are the FASTOP codes?

Focus codes who students and teachers interact with, while Action codes what students and teachers do.

Thus, most observations will have 1+ focus codes and 1+ action codes for both students and teachers.

Focus Code Student Focus Teacher Focus
Solo Students act alone. Teacher with one student.
Pair Students act in pairs. Teacher with pair of students.
Team Students act in teams/groups (3-5). Teacher with student team.
Teams Students act across or between teams. Teacher with multiple teams.
Class Students act as whole class. Teacher with whole class.
Action Code Student / Teacher Action
Answer Answer question(s) posed by other(s).
Ask Ask question(s) and wait for other(s) to answer.
Discuss Talk back and forth (more than one question and answer).
Speak Talk by one person with no interaction.
Manage Pass out or collect papers, assign groups, take attendance.
Distracted Distracted or off task.
Watch/Listen Watch or listen (e.g., to lecture or presentation).
Work Write, take notes, work on computer, etc. (not ask, answer, or discuss).

What FASTOP codes are typical for various classroom activities?

This table shows the expected FASTOP codes for various classroom activities.

Activity Focus Teacher (Instructor) Action Focus Student Action
Traditional Lecture Class Speak Class
Pair
Solo		 Listen
Discuss
Work, Distracted
Computer Laboratory Class
Solo, Pair		 Watch
Discuss		 Solo
Pair		 Work
Work, Discuss
POGIL a. teamwork

b. report out		 Class
Team
Class		 Watch
Discuss
Ask, Discuss
Team
Class
Discuss, Work
Answer
Peer Instruction a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.		 Class
Class
Class
Class
Class
Class		 Speak, Ask
Watch
Speak, Ask
Watch
Ask
Speak		 Class
Solo
Class
Pair
Solo
Class		 Listen
Answer
Listen
Discuss
Answer
Listen

See below for a table and plots of FASTOP codes from real classrooms.

What can analysis of FASTOP data show?

This table summarizes some preliminary data. Each row is a FASTOP code, grouped into student and teacher focus, and student and teacher action. Each column is a classroom activity: traditional lecture, interactive lecture, computer laboratory, POGIL team work, and POGIL report out. Real classroom observation sessions were segmented based on the observed activity. Code occurences were counted, and then normalized by the number of codes, so each block sums to 100%. For each activity, the column lists the weighted averages; for clarity, values <10% have been replaced with an asterisk.

Thus, in a traditional lecture, the teacher mostly speaks to the whole class, while roughly half of students watch/listen and the rest are distracted or work. In constrast, during POGIL teamwork, the teacher watches/listens roughly half of the time, but also discusses, asks, and manages, while students discuss and work roughly two-thirds of the time.

Focus or Action Code Trad. Lecture Inter. Lecture Comp. Lab POGIL Team POGIL Report
Student Focus Solo 41 * 61 * *
Pair 33
Team 13 * 88 *
Teams *
Class 59 85 * * 98
Teacher Focus Solo * 58 18
Pair 23 *
Team * * * 53 *
Teams * *
Class 96 91 13 21 92
Student Action Answer * 22 * 14 27
Ask * * * *
Discuss * 34 30 *
Speak * * *
Manage *
Distracted 24 13 * * 11
Watch/Listen 51 40 16 9 45
Work 20 18 35 28 14
Teacher Action Answer * 17 * *
Ask * 31 * 13 41
Discuss * 50 16
Speak 87 46 * * 46
Manage * * * 12 *
Distracted *
Watch/Listen 13 17 40 *
Work *

The plot below shows actions and focus for instructors and students during an interactive lecture session: Stacked proportion bars of instructor and student action and focus codes for the interactive lecture, showing that students mostly watched and focus was mostly on the whole class. Horizontal bar charts of instructor and student action and focus codes for the interactive lecture, where watching was the most common action for both and whole-class focus dominated.

The plot below show actions and focus for instructors and students during a POGIL session: Stacked proportion bars of instructor and student action and focus codes for the POGIL session, showing student actions split among watching, discussing, and working, with focus mostly on solo and team work. Horizontal bar charts of instructor and student action and focus codes for the POGIL session, where student discussing and working nearly matched watching and team focus was most common.

How does FASTOP differ from other observation protocols?

An observation protocol embodies decisions about what will be observed. For example, the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS) focuses on practices in Peer Instruction. Similarly, the Observation Protocol for Teaching in Interactive Classes (OPTIC) focuses on practices in Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) and other forms of collaborative small-group learning.

We wanted to underestand what actually happens in a variety of class sessions, including lectures, lab activities, Peer Instruction, POGIL, etc. Specifically, we wanted to analyze what students and teachers did (their action) and who they interacted with (their focus). For example, students could work with a team, a partner, or alone; the instructor could speak to a single student, a team, or the whole class.

Thus, most COPUS and OPTIC codes map to multiple FASTOP codes. Here is a draft mapping between OPTIC, COPUS, and FASTOP.

How to learn more?