Assessment
A Very Brief Overview
“Teaching Teaching”
May 1, 2009

Evaluation in the Teaching Life Cycle

Evaluation in the Teaching Life Cycle

Assessment
• Measures student learning
• Measures performance
• Measures engagement
• Measures what you need it to measure
• (But it must be designed to do so!)

Formative & Summative
Informal & Formal
Objective & Subjective
Internal & External

Formative & Summative

Formative
• Who: teacher, peers, students themselves
• What: feedback, not necessarily graded
• When: continual
• Why: instructional tool

Formative
• Who: teacher, peers, students themselves
• What: feedback, not necessarily graded
• When: continual
• Why: instructional tool
How do you do this?

Summative
• Who: teacher
• What: graded assignment
• When: at the end of the project or periodically
• Why: demonstrates what the students know

Summative
• Who: teacher
• What: graded assignment
• When: at the end of the project or periodically
• Why: demonstrates what the students know
How do you do this?

Formative & Summative

Assessment & Evaluation

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradley_newman/13672486/
Formative & Summative
more: http://tinyurl.com/formsum

Informal & Formal

Informal
• classroom observations • journals
• individual projects • logs
• essays • performances
• experiments • presentations
• group projects • reports

Informal
• classroom observations • journals
• individual projects • logs
• essays • performances
• experiments • presentations
• group projects • reports
What does this measure?

Formal
• unit tests
• standardized tests

Formal
• unit tests
• standardized tests
What does this measure?

Informal & Formal
more: http://tinyurl.com/formsassess http://www.flickr.com/photos/andre5/2932016852/

Objective & Subjective

Objective
• Multiple Choice
• Fill in the blank
• Equations
• Steps in a process

Objective
• Multiple Choice
• Fill in the blank
• Equations
• Steps in a process
What are the strengths and weaknesses?

Subjective
• Essay
• Short answer
• Open ended problems

Subjective
• Essay
• Short answer
• Open ended problems
What are the strengths and weaknesses?

Objective & Subjective
http://www.flickr.com/photos/art_star/530345114/

Internal & External

Internal & External
Internal
• Created by teachers
• Feedback for students

Internal & External
External
Internal
• Created by governing body
• Created by teachers
• Minimal feedback for students
• Feedback for students

A Bit on External Assessment
Could be any or all of the following:
1.Evaluate student learning
2.Evaluate student perceptions of the class
3.Provide feedback for future course design
How do you use external assessment?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/
11526659@N00/411960476
Internal & External

Formative & Summative
Informal & Formal
Objective & Subjective
Internal & External

Tips

Tell Them!
• Tell the students what you
expect them to learn.
• Tell the students how you will
be grading them.
• Provide a rubric if possible.
• Be consistent and clear in
grading.
• Provide feedback.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thowi/277264851/

How do you assess student learning?