Formative vs. Summative
Formative assessment: monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning. Done DURING the course and typically lower stakes. Designed to support student learning and ensure that content is understood.
Summative assessment: evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.
Authentic Assessment:
Authentic Assessment is simply assessment that translates into a meaningful experience for the student and requires APPLICATION of learning to a project in some form. While multiple choice exams are important, they do not always measure a student's abilities. Sometimes authentic assessments will draw out a student's understanding more thoroughly because they are based on real world situations. According to Grant Wiggins (1998), an assignment is authentic if it:
- is realistic.
- requires judgment and innovation.
- asks the student to “do” something with the topic.
- replicates or simulates the contexts in which adults are “tested” in the workplace or in civic or personal life.
- assesses the student’s ability to efficiently and effectively use a repertoire of knowledge and skills to negotiate a complex task.
- allows appropriate opportunities to rehearse, practice, consult resources, and get feedback on and refine performances and products.
Wiggins, Grant. (1998). Ensuring authentic performance. Chapter 2 in Educative Assessment: Designing Assessments to Inform and Improve Student Performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, pp. 21 – 42.
Four Guiding Principles
- Learning Objectives: What are you trying to do?
- Course Design: How will you do it?
- Content: How will you ensure engagement?
- Assessment: How will you know you've been successful?
Using these questions to guide you, determine what kind of assessment you might wish to use. Assessments should:
- Reflect content
- Be specific, achievable and measurable
- Align with Course Learning Objectives
- Serve a purpose: to reinforce the LEARNING
- Use the course vocabulary
You can use many forms of assessment besides tests/quizzes and written papers! Consider using:
- Team projects
- Case studies
- Scavenger hunts/Field Trips
- Student created Videos
- Presentation
- Journaling
- Discussions
- Current Events Application
- WEBLINK: Formative Assessment Tools
How to create a quiz/test. Video (5.32 minutes)
Examsoft and Examity
Some assessments need to be created with more rigor. In these cases, many instructors like to use the following tools:
- Examsoft - ExamSoft is the leading provider of educational assessment technology. Our secure assessment platform allows educators to more efficiently create, administer, grade, and analyze assessments with the goal of improving student performance and streamlining curricular design and accreditation reviews.
- Examity- Examity is our exam proctoring solution. If the assessment you are planning is a high-stakes assessment, you might want to consider having the exam proctored. This requires that the assessment is available online either through Blackboard or Examsoft. If you need a proctored exam, please contact CTEIHelp@rush.edu as soon as possible because advanced notice is needed.
- Lockdown Browser - Respondus LockDown Browser is enabled on a test-by-test basis. Since LockDown Browser adds an additional layer of security to normal Blackboard tests, instructors can flexibly enable it for some or all of a course's existing assessments.
General Recommendations Regarding Assessment:
- Always use a combination of assessment measures.
- Use the measures that are congruent with learning goals.
- Avoid face-to-face assessment requirements in fully online classes whenever possible.
- Prefer formative assessment.
- Application of concepts through papers or projects work well online.
- Use rubrics both as teaching tools and assessment measures.
