26 Purposeful assessment
đź’ˇ Please reflect:
When you design your course or unit, after drafting main learning objectives, think of these questions: What tasks will demonstrate that students have achieved the course’s learning goals and objectives? How will I gather this information?
There are different categories of assessment based on purpose, including diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments.
|
Category of Assessment |
Purpose |
Examples |
Instructor Feedback |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Diagnostic Assessments |
Help gather information about what students already know and are able to do before they start learning about a new topic. They are typically ungraded or completion-graded. |
one-minute papers, quizzes, clickers |
Instructors can help students activate accurate information from previous learning and clarify misconceptions before they get more embedded. |
|
Formative Assessments |
Help check in with students’ learning and progress toward achieving learning objectives throughout the semester. They aim to support students in learning and practicing new knowledge and skills. |
one-minute papers, ungraded essay drafts, concept maps, quizzes, discussion forums, surveys |
Actionable, timely, and iterative feedback helps students see their progress in learning and better understand how to adapt effective learning strategies and focus on areas of improvement. This feedback can increase student motivation and self-directed learning. |
|
Summative Assessments |
Aim to determine whether students have achieved learning objectives. They are designed to measure students’ knowledge and skills and are often high-stakes and used at the end of an instructional unit. |
final papers, research projects, exams, podcasts, learning portfolios, presentationsÂ
|
Summative feedback provides an evaluation of student learning, knowledge, proficiency, and skills. It accompanies a grade and conveys an overall assessment of students’ learning. It should be actionable, aligned with formative assessments, and promote self-reflection. |
Certain techniques that will be discussed in this section can be used as both summative and formative assessments based on the context and goal, like case studies or quizzes.
When you are planning your course, for each course learning objective:
- Consider summative assessment techniques.
- Develop rubrics and criteria.
- Make the grading system transparent.
- Outline due date windows.
- Design formative assessment techniques that can help check in with students’ learning.
You may need to revisit your course learning objectives and their aligned assessment plans to support students’ learning experience throughout the semester.
đź’ˇ Please reflect:
What opportunities will you provide students to demonstrate their proficiency in course content and targeted skills? Which diagnostic, formative, and summative assessment techniques would provide students with opportunities to practice, receive feedback, and demonstrate the learning specified in your course learning objectives?
Feedback/Errata