Assessing Student Learning

Formative vs. Summative Assessment

• Formative Assessment: Provides immediate feedback to gauge progress during a course. This allows you to identify deficiencies and adjust instruction before final grades are assigned. Think of this as a chef tasting soup while cooking so they can still make changes.
• Summative Assessment: Evaluates learning at the end of a unit or course, usually assigning a broad grade. It focuses on final outcomes rather than ongoing improvement. Think of this as serving the finished soup to patrons when it is too late to alter it.

Aligning Assessment with Learning Objectives

Aligning your assessments ensures you are accurately measuring learning at the correct outcome level, such as those defined by Bloom’s Taxonomy. It also guarantees students have the opportunity to practice required skills before they are tested.

Best Practices:

• Ensure all learning objectives are assessed.
• Apply both formative and summative assessments to your most critical objectives.
• Use Bloom’s Taxonomy to determine the specific evidence needed to prove mastery.

• All learning objectives should be assessed.
• Critical learning objectives should employ both formative and summative assessments.
• Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to think about what evidence is required to assess mastery of each objective can be helpful.

Choosing Assessment Tools

• Long-Term Assessments: Measure knowledge growth over a period of time, such as comparing student understanding at the start versus the end of a semester.
• Immediate Assessments: Provide quick feedback right after a specific lecture or a complex topic. Examples include simple quizzes, minute papers, or sketches. Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) are commonly used for these and can be graded or ungraded.