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As a non-expert, allow me to offer the following definition(s) and types of assessment as I see it.

Formative assessments are used while students are learning new content (e.g. use of Clickers, mastery quizzes with multiple attempts), while summative assessments evaluate mastery of few chapters. Low stakes assessments are used to evaluate students learning and gaps (one-minute papers, breakout rooms in online synchronous classes, and think-pair-share), while high stakes are the major tests/exams or Lab Practical Final. To me it's important that all kinds of assessments give me feedback which I can in turn use to review and discuss with students for their learning improvement. One can do it even with high stakes exams, and if a question has been answered incorrectly by most students, then perhaps I need to review it and figure out a different and/or supplemental way of teaching the concept for that group of students. As I have progressed in my over 30-years of teaching, I shifted from only summative, high-stakes assessments to regularly using low-stakes and formative assessments.

Assessments are a critical tool to demonstrate whether or not learning outcomes are achieved by students. I try to integrate several types of assessments throughout my courses. Assessments also provide me feedback on how effective my teaching approaches are at conveying course concepts. For instance, for course exams, I pay close attention to the metrics provided in Canvas to ensure the value questions provide in differentiating student performance. If 100% of the students miss a question, perhaps the question was flawed or I did not convey the concept clearly enough. If 100% of the students answered a question accurately, perhaps the question was too easy and not valuable in assessing the different levels of performance among the students.

Assessment is a way to determine if students are learning. An assessment can be formative so I can determine what knowledge students are coming to class with using a formative assessment. I can use a summative assessment following several formative assessments to see if that same concept has more mastery by the student. I have also used a summative assessment as formative, as many of the materials I read in this module suggested. When students still struggle with the concept on a unit exam, that summative assessment has become another step toward greater learning by giving them another attempt at those questions or the entire exam.

Assessments are competency checks for the students and I. Formals allow the students and educators to see how well students retained. It is also key for review opportunities to see which part should be the priority to stress on and get right. Summatives are used as the ultimate form of checking for application of the knowledge and seeing if the students can take the content to the next level of thinking.

Assessments are a tool to evaluate where students are in the course. It is like a checkpoint. Some checkpoints are smaller, like formative assessments. These can provide immediate and small corrections that help steer the student to overall success. They are also provide pertinent information for the instructor to see if the course can move forward or if material needs to be gone over again. There can also be larger checkpoints. These are assumptive and help measure if the students has mastered enough the material to merit a pass.

From my perspective, an assessment is the one of the best ways to determine the understanding of concepts taught in class. It provides a barometer also to my teaching abilities and the material absorption by the students. I find it is important to use assessments as a mirror to judge a professor's abilities and swallow the hard truth pill if there is a larger than standard deviation fail rate. Assessments really test that little nugget of knowledge that is stored past the sports scores, TV show trivia, and other pop culture items.

 

 

To me, an assessment is a learning checkpoint. It is a collaborative process where the student and teacher work together to see where the strengths and areas of improvement exist in a category of learning. I prefer assessments to be authentic to the expected working experience but also to the relevancy of the students' lives. I constantly ask myself "why does this matter to the industry and why does this matter to the student?" If I cannot find a suitable answer, I discard the assessment tool and try to find a better way.

When I think assessments, I think feedback. The feedback lets you know if there is progress, understanding, or if the light bulb is on in the student’s mind. The key to assessments is feedback. The assessment whether formative or summative is designed to make sure that the student is learning or has a grasp of the material. I like to have a student explain to me or a peer a concept or term. If they can articulate to a fellow student, I know they understand the material. One way to deepen learning is to share that knowledge. I have used Think, Pare Share, Kahoot, and Concept maps in my classes and they all come in handy in helping the students to “get” the material.The most important thing is that the students learn and can demonstrate that learning.

In my (limited) experience, I would say that assessment comes in two parts- you want to assess what the learner has understood and how they can use that information (or if they have achieved higher levels of learning) as well as teaching effectiveness - hand in hand. But I agree with others in that formative and summative assessment can be complex and there are many variables - such as the strength of the test question and considering the class as a whole. Assessments will also help educators identify learning gaps and ensure the class is on the right path to achieving course learning goals/outcomes as well as program learning goals. I think it is important to give students various opportunities to assess their learning and understanding and also offer different methods - testing, written assignments, simulation, and/or presentations. It is important to incorporate some type of formative assessment throughout the course- part of setting students up for success is addressing their needs early on in the course.

For me, an assessment is a way to determine which concepts my students understand, and which concepts they need additional help with. I have found common themes over the years and have tried to adjust my courses to accommodate the specific topics I find students struggle with. I find formative assignments help them with their summative exams. I also integrate APA format and critical thinking into most summative assignments because I find it takes students quite some time to master these abilities.

Assessment is the process a concept is placed in motion. As a teacher we open

A topic to the class, expecting they will understand how follow similar example.

Many times, the topic has different level of difficulties or different approaches

to get the same outcome. To be sure our explanation took ground in the class,

we give the class a transparent assessment for them to follow. Sometimes they

work in group, other time we walk around to assist them in any question.

 

Manuel

The use of assessments, especially formative assessments, is to monitor student learning and progress. This would be a helpful information that allows me and the students to find out areas that they have not achieved the expected learning outcome. Following this information, I can look for strategies to provide clarification and assist students to learn the depth of a concept. Also, an effective assessment strategy encourages students to seek help and clarification in a timely manner.

 

Shahnaz

 Working Definition of Assessment Activity

 

There are multiple forms and official definitions of the word assessment, We can break them down in terms of formative (ongoing), summative (final), and performace based - but what is most important is to gain a sense of the role of assessment in your teaching and courses.

 

For this space, please explain your own working definition of assessment, explain what the most important criteria is for when you decide to use assessment and what you hope to get from your students from using assessment?Just click on the post-it notes at the top right to create a post. Be sure to include your name in the tag field so we know whose excellent thoughts we are reading.

Classroom Assessment Techniques