Assessment
15 Useful Assessment
Alexandra Bitton-Bailey
How Can Assessment Benefit Students? | What is Useful Assessment? | Online Assessment | Assessment as a Learning Tool | Recall Practice | Assessment as Evaluation | References
How Can Assessment Benefit Students?
The useful assessment provides “value for time spent” for students and instructors when it is used as a learning activity and evaluation. Using a blend of both formative and summative assessments throughout a course shapes meaningful learning experiences for students.
- Formative assessments:
- Pinpoint areas for improvement
- Identify course content that may need to be reviewed
- Guide ongoing learning activities
- Provide data on the progress students are making towards a larger course goal
- Summative assessments:
- Examine the acquisition of knowledge, skill achievement, and content mastery at a specific point of the course
- These are typically done as a midterm, final, or submission of a final project
- They can also be in the form of a programmatic assessment such as a licensing exam
Both types of assessments can be used for calculating grades and providing feedback and can be combined.
What is Useful Assessment?
Get the best value for the time spent by combining assessment with learning. These are opportunities to identify misconceptions, correct thinking, and reasoning, and think deeply about the course content. Useful assessment is time-efficient for students, not just busywork. Consider how assessment activities can be time-efficient for you as an instructor because it serves as a feedback opportunity. It is ideal to parallel the work practices in the discipline
- Mary Bart (Faculty Focus): Creating a Campus Culture that Values Assessment
- Maryellen Weimer (Faculty Focus): Is it Time to Rethink our Exams
- Susan Spangler (Faculty Focus): Flipping Assessment: Making Assessment a Learning Experience
- Center for Teaching (Vanderbilt University): Classroom Assessment Technique
Online Assessment
View the Online Assessment workshop (1:07) recording to identify potential online formats as well as ideas for “authentic” assessment. Suggestions and tools to support academic integrity are discussed as well. The resources mentioned in this workshop are listed below.
- Group Grid Activity
- Dr. Tim Brophy – A Practical Guide to Assessment
- ePortfolios
- AAC&U – E-Portfolios: For Reflection, Learning, and Assessment
- Paloma Rodriguez – ePortfolio Workshop (visit the CTE Events and Workshops page for the next offering)
- UF Center for Teaching Excellence Resource Library – Student ePortfolios
- University of Waterloo – ePortfolios Explained: Theory and Practice
- Dr. Peter Doolittle – Active Learning, Proactive Teaching, Deep and Flexible Knowing (PPT Presentation)
- Dr. Maryellen Weimer (Faculty Focus) – Making Exams More about Learning
- Queen’s University – Examples of Innovative Assessments
- Dr. Rick Kates (UF) and colleagues (eLearn Magazine) – Enhancing and Impacting the Onli