Assessments

Summative assessment: These methods occur at the end of a unit of instruction, a term, or a course. Summative assessment determines the extent to which a student has demonstrated the learning outcomes for the purpose of making some kind of judgment or decision. It utilizes formal assessment methods, tests, quizzes, papers, and projects. Summative assessment falls into two categories:

Formative assessment: Conducted before or during the course in order to improve or adjust the course material, formative assessment provides students with feedback (immediate, if possible) so that they can adjust their own learning performance. Formative assessment methods may include both informal (non-graded performance) and formal methods (graded performance such as quizzes and other assignments). Formative assessment does not always need to be conducted by the instructor; self and peer assessments are also effective in providing feedback for improved learning. Methods of formative assessment in an online/hybrid course may include group discussion, posted reflections and allowing rewrites.

Course assessments should evaluate how well students have mastered the objectives. These objectives should guide the choice and design of the assessments. The alignment between objectives and assessments is critical to ensuring a course is well designed.

In assessing learning, it is important to create a “mix” of assessments that cover multiple approaches to learning. With online/hybrid courses in particular, traditional tests become a smaller part of the grade as you move towards encouraging student interaction on group projects and other activities.

Different types of assessments include:

Participation
Give students credit for the substantive learning they can provide each other through discussions. This is important in all learning environments. For instance, in many online courses, these discussions are essential for achieving learning goals. By assigning credit for participation in discussions specifically, instructors can prevent “lurking”, where students listen to the conversation but do not participate.

Teamwork involves collaboration among students.
However, students frequently express concern that not all members contribute equally when working in groups. Typically, an instructor will assess teamwork based on the final project instead of evaluating contribution from each student. Thus, by developing a transparent assessment process that assesses both individual and team based learning, student collaboration can be encouraged.

Scoring rubrics not only provide grading guidelines, but also explain what students are supposed to do in order to complete assignments. Researchers recommend using grading scales and rubrics that are assignment-specific and designed with criteria that are highly explicit. They can help students understand what is expected of them in the assignments, and provide more structure and reliability to the assessment process.

In addition to grading criteria of assessment, a rubric can be used as a guideline for how students should approach assignments and projects. RubriStar is a great online tool to create grading rubrics.

What is an e-Portfolio?

e-Portfolios are systematic collections of evidence that demonstrates what a person or an organization has learned over time. These collections often include both work sample and reflections on learning.

The 2010 National Educational Technology Plan suggests that a student-managed electronic learning portfolio can be part of a persistent learning record and help students develop the self-awareness required to set their own learning goals, express their own views of their strengths, weaknesses, and achievements, and take responsibility for them. Educators can use e-Portfolios to gauge students’ development, and they also can be shared with peers, and/or others who are part of the students’ extended network.

Research and experience shows that portfolios serve equally well to foster professional development and to showcase a learner’s developing attitudes, skills, behaviors, and values. Like artists, teachers select the evidence to include in the teaching portfolio by reflecting on their growth as teachers over time. Teachers can see strengths as well as limitations or gaps that need work in the coming year.

e-Portfolios constitute an integrated system of learner-centered evaluation that is well suited for formative and summative assessment. The e-portfolio provides a sense of progress and process as well as the final product.