C-PAD Shares #6, February 2023
Featured Theme: Summative Assessment
If we think of formative assessments as “low stakes”, then we should think of summative assessments as “high stakes.” Summative assessments serve to evaluate a student’s acquired capabilities over time in relation to specific learning goals.
The three articles that follow offer practical advice for faculty looking to measure student capability and growth more effectively. Taken together, they cover essential considerations, convey some surprising findings on student preference, and identify factors that make some assessments superior to others.
Summative Assessment
Baylor University Academy for Teaching and Learning
Article reading time: 5 minutes
This brief teaching guide does a lovely job of quickly highlighting summative assessment design concerns, while also taking an enlightened perspective regarding the interrelationship of formative and summative assessment (see Shares #5 for a treatment of formative assessment).
While multiple choice and short answer question-based tests, essays, and research projects are common assessments, a much wider array is available. Depending on your students’ learning goals, less familiar approaches like instructor observations, portfolios, or peer/self-evaluation may be appropriate (see the second article below for revealing findings about popular and effective assessment options).
Read on to learn the three factors driving assessment choice, the critically important aspects of validity and reliability, the role of feedback, and suggested options for orchestrating formative and summative assessment to best effect.
Which Assessment Strategies Do Students Prefer?
Faculty Focus, October 27, 2017
By Dr. John Orlando, educational technology speaker and consultant
Article reading time: 5 minutes
The author summarizes a research article published in the Journal of Interactive Online Learning in 2015. The researchers experimented with different assessment strategies in two online courses in educational leadership, then surveyed students, having them rank each according to three factors: enjoyment, engagement with the material, and knowledge creation likely to transfer to real world practice.
Two key findings emerged: 1) the three factors correlated consistently, boding well for highly-rated types, and 2) traditional assessments rated very low in all respects. Quizzes came in dead last, largely because students see no transfer value beyond the material tested. Interestingly, the most popular strategy was written analysis to documentary videos.
Read on to learn why the 12 assessment types scored as they did, and near the end of the article note the principles that account for the most effective types.
Alternatives to Traditional Exams and Papers
Indiana University Bloomington, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning
Article reading time: 4 minutes
If you are considering non-traditional approaches to assessment, you may find this decision guide useful. The first part of the guide poses questions you should answer to clarify the specific knowledge, skills, or abilities you are looking to assess.
The second part of the guide lists alternatives to multiple-choice exams that can be used in many disciplines and contexts. Note that the organization is based on the kind of cognitive processes or skills required:
- Those that assess student creativity
- Those that require analysis or evaluation
- Those that require similar work as a term paper, but in a much shorter document
- Those that demonstrate deep understanding of course material
- Those that require the integration of skills and knowledge
What assessment approaches do you use? C-PAD welcomes any comments you care to make regarding this resource or topic.