Formative and Summative Assessments

Using Web 2.0 tools for formative and summative assessments can be very powerful.  These tools can provide students with a high degree of differentiated, self-paced instruction.  The tools can be accessed 24/7, which means students who are struggling or who want to explore the subject matter in more depth may do so outside of the regular school day.  These tools can be very powerful for me as a teacher, too.  They can provide more time-appropriate data on student progress, which reduces my time spent on grading, allowing me to focus on creating an environment where students achieve mastery based on their learning modalities and individual needs.

As a teacher, it is my role to make sure the tools for formative assessment allow me to monitor students’ progress effectively.  By following Tuttle’s Stages of Formative Assessment and providing feedback – either online or in the classroom, or , most likely, both -  at regular intervals throughout the learning process, I can monitor and evaluate student learning.  Students can self-monitor and learn from the feedback they’ve received from me and from their peers.  They reach the level of meta-cognition, where they know how to problem solve and use strategies to attain mastery.  Learning becomes much more student-centered and I become more of a facilitator.  Even if I don’t provide a certain tool for them during a learning unit, they may choose to use it anyway or choose other tools to enhance their own learning.

If a student is having difficulty mastering the information, I need to provide appropriate alternate tools to allow them to synthesize, practice, and apply the information they’ve learned.  This will also benefit those students who master the information early on.  Tutorial videos, quizzes, polls, flashcards, threaded discussions, word searches, etc., can be used.  And the great thing about these formative assessments is that many of them are already created for us!  If I want to check for understanding with an online quiz, I don’t have to recreate the wheel.  I can usually find a quiz that is already online that will fit the students’ needs.  The same goes for video tutorials, flashcards, etc. 

Just like in the traditional classroom, I need to decide which formative and summative tools are the most appropriate for each learning unit.  In a fully online class, these will be Web 2.0 tools, but in a blended class (which I will be teaching) the tools may be a combination of Web 2.0 and paper-pencil, face-to-face tools.  Second, I need to consider if students have used the tools before and are comfortable with them.  If not, I need to allow students time to explore and learn how to use the tools.  Third, I need to provide clear expectations for each assessment in the form of rubrics or checklists. Fourth, I need to provide variety and choice as much as possible to allow for differentiated and individualized instruction.  Lastly, I need to provide for feedback and collaboration– teacher-student and/or peer-to-peer - in a timely manner to help students gain mastery of the subject matter.

Particularly with summative assessments, I need to consider what would be an authentic assessment tool.  I tend to use more performance- or project-based assessments, where students achieve the highest form of learning according to Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy: creating.  Next year, I plan on incorporating ePortfolios where students can share their work.  I think the quality of their work, and their interest in learning, will be heightened if they know they are creating projects that will be viewed by their classmates, their parents, and, potentially, the world.

In planning a comprehensive assessment strategy for each learning unit, it is important for me to choose both formative and summative assessments that allow my students to collaborate and progress through the stages of Bloom’s Taxonomy – remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating – to achieve the higher order and critical thinking skills that will make them successful 21^st Century learners.