A formative assessment is a low- or no-stakes assessment that provides extensive feedback on incorrectly answered questions. It also provides positive reinforcement on correctly answered questions. Formative assessments both measure how well a student is learning during instruction and give the student useful feedback to improve learning outcomes.
By contrast, a summative assessment provides final marks during the grading phase of a course. Summative assessments measure what a student has learned after a cohesive group of subtopics have been studied, where understanding is key to success in subsequent modules.
How to use Formative Assessments
- Create polls that can be used during a lecture to check student understanding. Use Zoom Polls, Kahoot!, PearDeck, Tophat, or Padlet.
- Knowledge checks in Brightspace after each learning material. See example below
- Provide practice quizzes for students to use to check their own understanding before a big exam. These could ask the same types of questions students might see on a summative assessment.
- Allow students to reflect on their learning. Have students submit ‘minute papers’ or exit tickets through Brightspace assignments or quizzes.
- Give students the opportunity to ask clarifying questions during a lecture. Use Brightspace discussion boards to allow students to reflect on the material, ask questions, or apply what they have learned.
Example made in H5p.org:
Why we LOVE Formative Assessment
Where to start?! Each failure is a learning opportunity, so giving students a chance to fail with a low- or no-stakes assessment provides more learning opportunities. Timely, actionable feedback is a critical component in formative assessment. As in the example above, feedback teaches students what went wrong and how to fix it for next time.
Formative assessments allow students to self-assess, and go back, slow down, or study more BEFORE the big exam.
Furthermore, they let you know where you can adjust your teaching speed or reframe the content to promote deeper understanding.
Introducing Formative Assessment to Students
“Why should I bother, when I know that students aren’t going to bother if the assignment is worth little or no points?”
That is 100% a good point, and to that, we recommend that the benefits of formative assessments are directly shared with the students. Encourage students to participate in polls and surveys, non-graded quizzes, and assignments in order to help you assess what you need to reteach. Let your students know when these activities provide the opportunity to test themselves in a low-risk way.
Especially in a Zoom setting, formative assessments not only let you gauge the class’ understanding, but they also provide a chance for student engagement. At the very minimum, it is a nice change-of-pace from lectures and activities.
If you would like to add more formative assessments into your class, book a consultation with one of our Instructional Designers!
Fogelson, K. (2020). Toolkit: Sync Assessments. Arizona State University. Retrieved on 12/14/2020 from https://provost.asu.edu/sync/faculty
The differences between formative and summative assessment – Infographic
https://www.bookwidgets.com/blog/2017/04/the-differences-between-formative-and-summative-assessment-infographic