1) Assessment provides feedback to students and instructors on student learning and mastery of content. This allows students to improve and instructors to adjust instruction as needed.
2) Evaluation identifies what is and is not working in the course from both the student and instructor perspective. This continuous improvement process enhances the quality and effectiveness of the course over time.
3) Both formative and summative assessments are necessary to fully understand student learning at different points in time. A variety of assessment methods also capture learning in different ways.