Making Assessment Meaningful

Our investigation highlighted practical implications and barriers for implementing assessment for formative purpose. With larger student numbers it is becoming harder for academics to find the time to engage in formative assessment. It seems a shame that as class sizes grow it is at the cost of the learning experience in terms of formative feedback. So whilst our respondents showed a commitment to using assessment for formative purposes, practical reasons may prevent this from actually happening. As an institution we also need to be looking at assessment timing. If assessment is to be formative, it needs to happen at a time when students can then act on feedback in a constructive way. We also need to be creating activities that allow students to engage with the feedback: simply handing students a page of written feedback will not encourage all students to act and learn. Creating discussion during teaching time, following assessment, for students to talk about the feedback will encourage them to read and reflect on any feedback. It is clear that assessment for formative purpose is at the heart of most lecturers’ practice within London Metropolitan University, but now we need to place it firmly at the heart of the student experience, in a meaningful and real way

Embedded formative assessment and classroom process quality. How do they interact in promoting students\u27 science understanding

In this study we examine the interplay between curriculum-embedded formative assessment-a well-known teaching practice-and general features of classroom process quality (i.e., cognitive activation, supportive climate, classroom management) and their combined effect on elementary school students\u27 understanding of the scientific concepts of floating and sinking. We used data from a cluster-randomized controlled trial and compared curriculum-embedded formative assessment (17 classes) with a control group (11 classes). Curriculum-embedded formative assessment and classroom process quality promoted students\u27 learning. Moreover, classroom process quality and embedded formative assessment interacted in promoting student learning. To ensure effective instruction and consequently satisfactory learning outcomes, teachers need to combine specific teaching practices with high classroom process quality. (DIPF/Orig.

Experiences of using student workbooks for formative and summative assessment

In response to poor student attainment rates, the teaching, learning and assessment strategy of a Level 1 circuit theory unit has been revised to emphasise the importance of regular attendance at teaching sessions, and also to provide regular formative feedback. As part of the assessment scheme a tutorial workbook has been used for both formative and summative assessment. The workbook is assessed regularly during scheduled teaching sessions. The use of objective questions has reduced the time taken to assess the work, while the regular assessments help with student motivation, provide formative feedback, and help students to structure and pace their learning

Afghan EFL Lecturers’ Assessment Practices in the Classroom

The current study is conducted with the aim to explore the practices and perceptions of Afghan EFL lecturers toward assessment. A second aim of the study is to explore the challenges the lecturers encounter in the implementation of formative assessments in their classes. To serve these basic objectives, a qualitative case study method design was employed with three English language lectures as the participants. Semi-structured interviews were used as the main instrument to collect data. The findings of the study indicated that all three lecturers maintained positive perceptions toward formative assessment and favored it over summative assessment. However, the study also discovered that the lecturers practice summative assessments more than formative assessments in their classrooms. This, as indicated by the lecturers, was due to the fact that their choices of employing certain assessment practices were dictated in terms of certain challenges such as university rules and policies, large classes, and time constraints. Lastly, some suggestions are made that may prove useful to effectively apply formative assessment in Afghan EFL context

Teacher development for formative assessment.

This article reports on the teacher development that occurred during a two-year research project on the formative assessment practices of primary and secondary school teachers of science. The teacher development involved the teachers' professional, personal and social development. The project focused on clarifying what it was that served as formative assessment in the classroom. Personal development focused upon appreciating the risks and uncertainties involved in responding to what students are learning and acknowledging the importance of teacher confidence. Social development involved a re-examination of the nature of student-teacher interactions and of the complex and often contradicting roles of the teacher in relation to teaching, learning and assessment

‘Summative’ and ‘Formative’: Confused by the assessment terms?

The terms ‘formative’ and ‘summative’ when linked to assessment can cause confusion. Should these terms be dropped? Should we move on from them? This paper argues that it is the common shortening of the full and meaningful terms, ‘assessment for formative purposes’ and ‘assessment for summative purposes’ that contributes to a confusion over assessments, information and methods, particularly for pre-service teachers and those with less teaching experience. By being well-informed about both purpose and assessment activity, teachers will have greater clarity in understanding, communication and practice regarding these important and useful concepts

Analysing assessment practice in higher education: how useful is the summative/formative divide as a tool?

A view of assessment as 'naturally' divided into the categories of formative and summative has become a taken-for-granted way of thinking about, talking about and organising assessment in universities, at least in the UK where the division is inscribed in national, institutional and departmental policy and guidance (eg. Quality Assurance Agency, http://www.qaa.ac.uk). In these documents summative and formative assessment tend to be understood as serving separate purposes with summative assessment understood as summing up the level of performance and formative assessment as feeding into future learning. We question the utility of the division in terms of better understanding assessment practices on the basis of an empirical study undertaken in a higher education institution in the UK. The aim of the Assessment Environments & Cultures project is to gain a better understanding of how academics assess and why they assess in the ways that they do. Interview and observational data have been collected from academics working in three subject areas: Design, Business and Applied Sciences. Initial analysis has focussed on the discourses in use and the subject positions taken up by academics when they talk about and undertake assessment. Analysis of our data suggests that, whilst academics used the categories of formative and summative to talk about their assessment practices, the distinction between assessment purposes may be 'messier' than the separate categories imply. Various examples from the project will be introduced to illustrate this point. This raises a number of questions in terms of researching assessment practices that will be raised for discussion at the roundtable. For example:Might it be useful to understand formative and summative assessment as occupying a shared and contested space rather than as distinct categories

The Learning Grid and E-Assessment using Latent Semantic Analysis

E-assessment is an important component of e-learning and e-qualification. Formative and summative assessment serve different purposes and both types of evaluation are critical to the pedagogicalprocess. While students are studying, practicing, working, or revising, formative assessment provides direction, focus, and guidance. Summative assessment provides the means to evaluate a learner's achievement and communicate that achievement to interested parties. Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) is a statistical method for inferring meaning from a text. Applications based on LSA exist that provide both summative and formative assessment of a learner's work. However, the huge computational needs are a major problem with this promising technique. This paper explains how LSA works, describes the breadth of existing applications using LSA, explains how LSA is particularly suited to e-assessment, and proposes research to exploit the potential computational power of the Grid to overcome one of LSA's drawbacks

Towards a personal best : a case for introducing ipsative assessment in higher education

The central role that assessment plays is recognised in higher education, in particular how formative feedback guides learning. A model for effective feedback practice is used to argue that, in current schemes, formative feedback is often not usable because it is strongly linked to external criteria and standards, rather than to the processes of learning. By contrast, ipsative feedback, which is based on a comparison with the learner's previous performance and linked to longterm progress, is likely to be usable and may have additional motivational effects. After recommending a move towards ipsative formative assessment, a further step would be ipsative grading. However, such a radical shift towards a fully ipsative regime might pose new problems and these are discussed. The article explores a compromise of a combined assessment regime. The rewards for learners are potentially high, and the article concludes that ipsative assessment is well worth further investigation. © 2011 Society for Research into Higher Education