It is important for the instructor to know the materials being taught and what the objectives of the course are. Once the objectives are known, the course's summative assessment can be set up to apply student knowledge and skills learned of the topics.
Ester,
Great post. You are right. They have to be connected.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
The two most important things to consider in conducting summative assessments are:
- That the assessment clearly shows the connection to real-world application of the information
- That the assessment is clearly linked to the overall learning objectives in the course
Donna,
You are right that the level of learning and the authenticity should be a consideration particularly when the course is closely tied to real world application.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Steven,
That is true, does the summative assessment measure the objective(s). This is so important.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Theran,
Yes, even with a summative assessment, the instructor can use the information to change or adjust learning processes.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Theran,
I agree with you. I wish students would use the time they spend avoiding assessment and cheating on spending time in the learning environment.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Theran,
I agree with your statement. You hope that a lesson learned is learned once! good post.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Niki,
Great post! You are right, if there are is no responsibility there is no learning!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Stephanie,
That is true, you may want to think of it as the summary of the work done by the student.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
David,
Great post! you are right, you can use a variety of tools to provide summative assessment for a student.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Letrice,
You are correct. You need to make sure that students know where they stand in the learning process.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
David,
Your summative assessment should have an formal evaluation of the course to measure success of the student.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
The two most important things to consider when conducting summative assessments include the following:
1) the assessment specifically measures the students ability to demonstrate their level of learning (Blooms Revised Taxonomy) as it relates real world experiences.
2) the instructors feedback provided to students enables them to focus on areas needed for improvement and the students feedback enables instructors to make necessary changes for course / program improvement.
Thus, the summative assessment is cyclic in nature for continued process improvement for both students and instructors alike.
One of the first things that comes to mind is, does the teacher have a clear understanding of the objectives, and knowlegde of the cirriculum and was (s)he able to connect those with student learning on all levels. Secondly, do those skills translate and are are being assesed relate to the real-world situations and problems.
Some of my responses will be the same or similar to those already mentioned, forgive the repetition:
1. Has the student/class reflected expanded learning as a result of the course (pre-diagnostic to post assessment).
2. Can I as an instructor see a need to change my teaching methodology and then incorporate change to be more effective. That is, does the results of the assessment reflect a need on my part to adjust.
I believe that teaching requires an adaptive instructor, but also requires a focused student, one interested in learning. If these occur, then the assessment will reflect both.
Yes, I agree, instructor's do have responsibility, yet at the same time I do believe that students have as great or greater responsibility for the learning process.
There are times I wish I could open up the brain cavity and pour in knowledge, but this is not possible. It is like the old saying, "you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink". Education is much like this old saying, we can teach, we can create innovative ways of instructing, we can use all sorts of methods etc., but unless the student desires to learn, the process will be ineffective as regards to that student.
I would suspect that all faculty have encountered situations where the students have sluffed off an exam.
The importance of assessment is not taken seriously, until at times the grade is "bad" and the student then finds themselves facing a penalty for sluffing off the exam.
As instructors we must let the student face the consequence of their personal decision.
When conducting summative assessments, i believe the two most important things to consider is:
1) Did the student learn what was intended to be learned.
2) Can the student apply learned knowlege.
If a student cannot apply learned knowlege then the student did not really learn what was intended to be learned. A passing grade on an assessment is only paper knowledge, it is not real knowledge. Paper knowledge is short term and therefore, no real knowledge has been obtained.
For a student to be able to apply learned knowledge, the student must also have a certain maturity level and with that maturity level comes responsibility. If there is no responsibility, then there is no knowledge.
For a summative assessment, it is important to understand where the student started at, and how they progressed. How did they do with learning and understanding the topics? It is also important to understand what difficulties the student may have encountered, which could range from unclear assignment description, to technical issues, to issues with the student not understanding the material.
