While many people link assessments to grades, the real power of assessing our students is the insight we can get from the results. Teaching is only half the equation; if students aren’t learning, our teaching is for naught. Analyzing student performance helps us—and them—determine what our students have mastered and where they may still need guidance and help.
To that end, we encourage you to include all student activities and assignments, not just formal quizzes, exams or essays, in your definition of "assessment."
Formative Vs. Summative
Using different types of assessments can more effectively support higher order thinking and will allow students to show they understand and can apply concepts rather than just memorize information for a quiz. By different types, we mean not only the format (quiz, essay, presentation, discussion, etc.) but also the goal of the assessment—is it formative or summative in nature?
Formative
Formative assessments evaluate a student's learning progress and the information gained from the assessment can be used to inform, adjust, and focus subsequent instruction.
Formative assessments are generally low-stakes, are typically more flexible than summative, and are best done on a regular basis. Examples could include practice quizzes, self-reflection prompts, revision of previous submissions, or knowledge check questions.
You might describe formative assessment as focusing on assessing for learning.
Keep in mind, lower stakes doesn't mean less important. Formative assessments can actually be more important because they influence students' learning path.
Summative
Summative assessments provide an overview of what/how much a student has learned after a unit or course has been completed. They are frequently used to determine if students are ready to proceed to the next level.
Summative assessments are generally high stakes, usually take place at the end of (or midway through) a course, and typically compare student performance against a pre-determined standard or benchmark. Examples could include a final project, midterm and/or final exam, final research project or dissertation.
You might describe summative assessment as focusing on assessing of learning.
Assessment Itself Can Contribute to Learning
Conventional wisdom has always been that learning occurs when people study, so more study equals more learning; testing was considered a neutral learning event. This "wisdom" has been shown to be erroneous on both counts. There is much research out there pointing to the fact that repeated assessment, not studying, has been shown to be a critical factor for long-term recall. In fact, repeated studying with no evaluative component produced essentially no benefit. It was the neutral learning event.
Robert Bjork, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at UCLA, coined the term “desirable difficulty” to describe the idea that requiring the brain to work a bit during learning has been shown to better anchor the learning. Retrieval is an important part of making knowledge stick. When we give learners something to do with the content they’re consuming, comprehension and retention are increased.
Authentic assessment is assessment that focuses on demonstrating competencies as they take place in—or in an environment emulating—the real-world. It is both sound pedagogy and naturally protects assessment integrity (meaning it's harder for students to engage in cheating). Students are asked to apply what they've learned to a new situation, one which requires analysis and judgment to determine an effective approach/result,
This is contrasted with conventional test/exam questions, which are typically a measure of a student's ability to recall—rather than apply—knowledge learned in the course (and which can lead students to conclude that "learning" means cramming to memorize isolated facts, terms or expected answers). Traditional assessments are less likely to be as valid as authentic assessment, particularly with learning outcomes that require higher order thinking skills.
With even really well designed multiple choice tests (by far the most common assessment used in instruction), the data most instructors are getting is how good our students are at answering multiple choice questions, not necessarily a measure of how well students understand—and can apply—the course material. Essays, another ubiquitous form of assessment, can demonstrate different kinds of learning than multiple choice exams, but essays are usually written with a faculty/instructor audience in mind and, being conceptual in nature, don’t necessarily reflect the skills a course is designed to teach. Conventional quizzes, exams and essays can certainly have a place in an instructor's entire assessment strategy; however, a more accurate view of student learning will be derived in courses that don't rely solely on traditional assessment methods.
There's no doubt traditional multiple choice, matching, and true/false questions allow for automated scoring which makes them easier to grade. Authentic assessments, by nature, are "messy" and require more time for both students and instructors to complete. Designing an effective authentic assessment requires the instructor to identify and/or research relevant tasks and ensure those tasks are aligned with the stated learning objectives and instructional content. Assessment tasks must be well-planned and clearly articulated for students right from the beginning to help them succeed. Grading authentic assessments usually requires more detailed and specific feedback which, as beneficial as it can be for your students, means additional time to implement (especially the first time around).
Later in the module, you'll have a chance to explore examples of authentic assessment from a variety of disciplines.
Knowledge Check
Which statement is NOT true about authentic assessment?
Students are asked to apply knowledge and think critically.
Authentic assessment is generally process-based rather than an isolated activity.
Authentic assessment is typically simpler to grade.
The tasks must be well thought out.
Select the button below for the answer.
The answer is C. Grading authentic assessment often calls for specific and detailed feedback which can't be automated.