Formative Assessments
Formative assessments are used to monitor student learning. They can be as simple as a verbal question asked during class, practice problems, or polling questions. These low stakes assessments allow learners to gain valuable feedback as they progress through a unit.
The purpose of formative assessment is to provide ongoing feedback for the instructor to improve their teaching and for students to improve their learning.
Through the use of formative assessments, students identify their strengths and weaknesses. As a result, attention may be redirected to improve learning.
As the instructor, these assessments provide valuable insight into student learning allowing you to make necessary adjustments on a regular basis.
Formative assessment are low-stakes opportunities, meaning they have little or no point value and may also come in the form of:
- Practice quizzes
- Brief reflections
- ”Muddiest point”
- Proposal or outline
For the ”Muddiest point” activity, students will write from one to three things that they found difficulty to understand from the textbook reading, lecture, or activity. The instructor can use these points to summarize or re-explain issues that the majority of the class maybe be having difficulty understanding.
Course Assignment Framework
Below you will find a table of different formative assessment assignment types that can help you plan and build assessment activities. Each of these assignment types can be combined to complete different objectives.
| № | Assignment | Rationale | Advantages | Possible Combinations | Canvas Tool |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Assigned or Selected Readings | Students need to access and process textual information to develop background knowledge. | Include texts, Internet and library resources; expect reading comprehension; help keep students connected to course content |
1+5 Reading/Technology-Activity (Summarize readings as a chart or graphic organizer) 1+6 Reading/Current Events (Relate readings to news item) |
|
| 2 | Written Responses* | Students are expected to think and communicate their understanding in writing at the college level. | Evidence independent writing proficiencies; can be guided by a rubric; afford more personalized connections |
2+1 Written Response/Reading (Brief written response to assigned reading) 2+4 Written Response/Group Project (Group presents summary of a section or chapter) |
|
| 3 | Online Collaborations | Students can stay connected to the instructor, other students, and the posted resources via online discussions and collaborative tasks | Build interaction among students; promote accountability and ongoing input to instructor and students |
3+1 Online Collaboration/Reading (Use online discussion to respond to assigned reading) 3+7 Online Collaboration/Tests (Use online discussions to post and revise potential test items) |
|
| 4 | Group Projects or Presentations | Some students prefer to work in pairs or groups and can get to know other students in other locations. Teamwork is a highly sought skill in most professions. | Promote cooperative learning and presentation skills; reduce the number of assignments to grade |
4+5 Group Project/Technology Activity (Explore various websites to analyze an issue) 4+6 Group Project/Current Event (Use Internet resources to develop PowerPoint or Prezi on current event) |
|
| 5 | Technology-based Activities | Students should advance their use of technology via course and career-related tasks. | Utilize students’ familiarity with technology and promote career-oriented applications |
5+2 Technology/Written Report (Use online resources for a synthetic summary) 5+8 Technology/Application (Use technology to make an educational activity targeting course content) |
|
| 6 | Current Events Connections | Students can associate course content to current events and make connections to real-world applications. | Can be varied and add information/dimension to class discussions; can be controversial and stimulating |
6+3 Current Event/Online Collaboration (Post comments online to relate content and recent news item) 6+9 Current Event/Written Report (Use a real-world incident as a prompt for a written report) |
|
| 7 | Tests and Evaluations | Students should evidence their “ownership” of course content. | Can be formative or summative; include objective formats; easier to grade and can be posted and completed online and asynchronously |
7+1 Tests/Reading (Assess knowledge of assigned reading in a traditional test format) 7+2 Tests/In-class Writing (Have students respond in writing to how they studied for and completed an assessment) |
*This was orginally "In Class Written Responses" but has been changed to "Written Responses" here to adapt it for the online teaching environment.
Source: Mohr, K. A. J. (2002). Planning for productive college-level work: Using the course assignment framework. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 26, 469-477.
Teaching Format Modifications
Based on your teaching format, you may want to modify how you implement formative assessments into your course. Below are suggestions on how you can do that:
Virtual
Use the Zoom polling tool to get a sense of student understanding for the topic being covered. To save some time during class, create polls before class. Use the results page and share with students to continue the discussion, clarify misconceptions, or split the class up for smaller group discussions. Polls can then be reused to see if the class understands the material more accurately.
Connect
Have students submit reflections via Canvas. If using iClicker for polling, be sure to use the iClicker Cloud version so that students at other locations can participate. You could also have students log in via Zoom (without audio) to participate in a poll.