Assessment
Assessment is the evidence we need from our students to judge if mastery of learning outcomes has taken place. There are two types of :
Formative assessments evaluate for learning and is used to monitor student learning throughout the learning process. It provides feedback to students about what needs further development while providing us with feedback on our teaching and what needs more focus. Formative assessments are low-stakes assessments.
Summative assessments evaluate the integration of learning – or how well learning outcomes have been achieved and is usually given at the end of a learning period (e.g. course or unit). Summative assessments are high-stakes assessments.
Both types of assessment are essential to the learning process because they:
- drive the curriculum by focusing the student on the essential knowledge to acquire and skills and attitudes to develop
- help students consolidate the material to be learned
- provide you and your students with feedback on their learning
Aligning assessments with learning outcomes
Developing learning outcomes is half the battle when designing assessments because they describe: what your students will know, do or value; the context in which the task should be performed; the level of thinking (Bloom’s taxonomy) students should be working at (expressed with an action verb) and the criteria by which performance should be measured.
What do well-aligned assessments look like?
Well-aligned assessments can be identified by a match between the outcomes and the demonstration of skill or knowledge being assessed. It is recommended to use different ways of assessing students so that they have multiple ways of demonstrating their learning. This (Source: Eberly center, Carnegie Mellon University) presents examples of the kinds of assessment activities that can be used to assess different types of learning outcomes. The table also helps you ensure that you are testing the appropriate levels of thinking (Bloom鈥檚 Taxonomy).
Additional considerations when assessing your students
Additional considerations when assessing your students
- Assess only the learning outcomes you have identified and ensure that students have had an opportunity to exercise the competency(ies) during learning activities so that the assessments are no surprise.
- Make assessments as relevant as possible to situations students are most likely to encounter in the occupation or higher education. See more on authentic assessments
- Be transparent with your students about what they will be tested on, the format and context of the assessment. Students should understand what a good or poor performance looks like. Rubrics can be helpful. See more on rubrics .
- Include sufficient formative assessment activities in your course to provide both you and your students with that can help them succeed.
More resources
ChatGPT
What about ChatGPT? Here is some info to get you started…
What is ChatGPT?
- (University Affairs)
- (Eductive (Quebec))
- (Faculty Focus)
- (The Conversation)
- (Nature.com)
- (Taylor Institute, University of Calgary)
- (Forbes)
- (The Conversation – Podcast)
Incorporating ChatGPT into your teaching
- – University Affairs
- – developed by St茅phane Paquet, teacher at Champlain College St-Lambert
- Prepared by Tricia Bertram Gallant, Ph.D., Director, Academic Integrity & Triton Testing, UC San Diego
- 10 Best Practices for AI Assignments in Higher Ed (ACUE)
- A guide from , for teachers who use ChatGPT in their classroom – including suggested prompts, an explanation of how ChatGPT works and its limitations, the efficacy of AI detectors, and bias. (OpenAI)
- (Performa, University of Sherbrooke – Video)
- (ContactNorth)
- (The Conversation)
- (Partnership on University Plagiarism Prevention)
- (University Affairs)
- (Elaine Maimon, Ph.D., a Distinguished Fellow of the Association for Writing Across the Curriculum – from the Philadelphiacitizen.org)
- (Edutopia)
- (Harvard EdCast)
- (@herfteducator)
Some tools that might be of use…
- (Article) – Free account creation is required
- – Enter text to check for AI involvement.
- – if you want to give AI a try…
- (a YouTube video explanation)
- – Want to know what’s out there?聽 Check this list of AI tools and what they can do
Feedback
Feedback
The essence of feedback is to provide students with information on how to close a knowledge or performance gap so that students can move closer to mastering the course outcomes. Feedback is informative guidance toward improvement and a different from evaluation.According to Hattie (2014) there are 3 essential elements that make feedback powerful and effective which highlight the importance of transparent course outcomes and assessment criteria:- Students should know what success looks like.
- Students should know that feedback is aimed at reducing the gap between where they are and where they need to be.
- Feedback should be focused on providing students with information about where to go next.
- It is important to focus on how feedback is received and not how it is given.
- Feedback should relate to learning outcomes and success criteria.
- Feedback should remain task oriented and not learner focused.
- Feedback should engage the learner just above their current level of functioning.
- Feedback should take place in an environment that fosters psychological safety and a culture open to failure and re-dos.
- Peer feedback allows for elaborate discourse and provides practice for giving and receiving respectful feedback.
- Feedback provides information about your teaching and may help you see where improvements or changes could be made.
classroom assessment techniques (CATS)
Classroom assessment techniques (CATs)
Consider using Classroom Assessment Techniques or CATs聽 to quickly assess for learning (as opposed to assessment of learning) and then follow up with appropriate feedback.CATs are quick and simple in-class activities designed to provide you with feedback on your students鈥� learning as well as on your teaching. Two examples of CATs that you have likely already used or heard of are: 鈥淭he Minute Paper”, a very short writing exercise that encourages reflection and 鈥淭he Muddiest Point鈥� which asks students to identify something they felt unclear about in a lesson, assignment, or piece of homework. Cats are easy to implement in any classroom.- (Podcast from Faculty Focus)
