Throughout the courses that I am teaching, I am getting feedback by performing both formative and summative assessments. While formative assessment focuses on assessing both student understanding and teaching effectiveness (Dixson and Worrell, 2016), summative assessment determines the proficiency of students (Dixson and Worrell, 2016).
There are many forms of formative and summative assessments. Here is a list of the ones that I am using.
- Formative assessments
While the formative assessments happen spontaneously during the lectures, based on the students’ reactions/questions to the topic covered, they are planned during the seminars. I am therefore always concluding a week of lectures (two to three lectures) by a seminar in order to give them an opportunity to assess their knowledge on a regular basis. I am covering one main topic/chapter per week so that the week’s seminar allows to repeat and summarize what has been learned so far and clarify some unclear aspects. The seminars offer a more casual setting where students have more time to reflect upon their knowledge and ask questions. At the beginning of the week, the students are given reading assignments for the seminar. I provide them with research papers (one or two) that are related to the week’s topic so that the students can put their knowledge into context. I also use these papers to teach about scientific writing (e.g., how to write an abstract, how to plan an experimental design) and to exercise their critical reading. I sometimes use Flinga as a pedagogical tool during these seminars to activate the students. Finally yet importantly, I rearrange the tables in the classroom as a U-shape so that students face each other; this facilitates the discussion among them.
- Summative assessments
In order to assess the understanding of my students, I am using written exams at the bachelor level (see development project) and oral exams at the master/PhD level.
– At the bachelor level, I have decided to use a written exam (performance-based assessment) because bachelor students need to consolidate their knowledge. Nevertheless, by the end of the course, the students are required to give on oral presentation; even though this presentation is not graded, participation in the written examination is conditional upon students having achieved pass grades for this presentation. I found this form of assignment appropriate for the bachelor students. While the written exam allows me and them to assess their understanding, they get to perform an oral presentation, which is preparing them to their graduate studies and/or active life.
– At the master/PhD level, I find that the oral exam is the most appropriate as graduate students are expected to communicate orally their knowledge/understanding. They have the required maturity as well as the scientific background necessary to perform well under these assessment modalities.
Literature cited
Boud, D., Falchikov, N. 2006. Aligning assessment with long-term learning. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 31 (4), 399-413.
Dixson, D.D., Worrell, F.C. 2016. Formative and summative assessment in the classroom. Theory Into Practice, 55, 153-159.
Kulasegaram, K., Rangachari, P.K., 2018. Beyond “formative”: assessments to enrich student learning. Advances in Physiology Education, 42, 5-14.
Broadbent, J., Panadero, E., Boud, D. 2018. Implementing summative assessment with a formative flavor: a case study in a large class. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43 (2), 307-322.