Jerri,
I agree with you. If your objectives of the course are low level Bloom's them that is what you assess. You don't have to use all of Bloom's you want to make sure that course wise the levels you use fit the materials.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
When conducting summative assessments it is important to consider the relationship between the assessment and the information taught. Is the tool appropriately assessing the knowledge gained by the students during the course. Secondly, what is the assessment's focus? Is it spanning Blooms levels or purposed for only recall.
Annabel,
I agree with you. You should be able to determine if there are gaps that need to be addressed in course review .
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Hello,
The following items are important to consider when conducting summative assessments:
1. Did the student grasp the section objectives? Was the instructor successful in teaching the students the objectives? It is important that the assessment provide a good review of the material that was covered to ensure that the objectives are fully understood.
2. Does the assessment make a link between the classroom knowledge to real world applications? The assessment should make a clear link to real world applications and how the material will be used in the workforce.
Warm Regards,
Annabel
Augustine,
That is correct. You do have to make sure there is alignment both with the outcomes and to make sure the assessment measures what it should measure
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Dr. Eileen ,
True as long as it fits the outcomes established in the course.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
When conducting summative assessment, the two most important things to consider are: 1) Identify/determine the learning objective(s) and 2) Determine how congruent the formative feedbacks relate to the learning objectives.
1) How they student work demonstrates mastery of the course objectives and 2) how they student demonstrates their ability to use what was taught.
I am not interested in a student memorizing facts and matching them in a multiple choice environment. I want to see understanding and application to know transfer of learning has taken place.
Elizabeth,
You make a great point. It does surprise me that many instructors see assessments as a one way street pointing to learners. We have responsibility too. Great post!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Hi,
If the majority of the students fail a test, I think as an instructor, I need to go back and reflect on each question that was on the test to make sure it was covered the way it is supposed to. I cannot jump and blame the students for everything neither.
Elizabeth
Robin ,
Great post! You are right, the assessment should reflect the outcomes. To ensure mastery of a subject; multiple assessment must be done. I think we think when we give a test, that we are done. That test may only tell one side of a "story" .
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Donald,
You make such an important point. Timing is everything. If the timing is right you have rich information. If the time is wrong you can really be the barrier to student learning.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Since the summative assessment occurs at the end of the course I would want to be sure that it directly relates to the course objectives. I would also keep in mind that it is not only to measure the students success in the course but also that of the instructor. Valuable feedback can be provided to the student about their readiness to use the material that they have just learned.
I thinkk that the two most important things to rmember when conducting summative assessments is the level of difficulty of a summative assessment, and the timing of the summative assessment. It the summative assessment is too difficult, then students will probably be overwhelmed, and not do well. Second, if the summative assessment is too infrequent, then the amount of material in the summative assessment may again be overwhelming. Like the porridge in the story of the three bears, porridge must be just right.
Kelly,
Interesting post. Do you use the summative assessment to look at the process of learning from the instructors' role? It seems that when many institutions the "course in the box" for instructors there doesn't seem to be room in evaluating the learning objects. How unfortunate.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Simply put the two most important things to look at are success and failure. What work and what didn’t. More especially did the student’s learn the expected learned outcome? What presented materials worked better than others, what did the students in general respond better to as a whole, and or a comparison to initial evaluations from the start of the course, in conjunction with comparison to previously taught course.
Does the schools you have taught at provide time/space or a forum to support instructors/professors and cultivate a environment that focus on “owning†developing a course or two courses that would be assigned, projecting 5 to 10 out and or share outcomes to following instructors on Summary evaluations or is the school more focused on other matter?
Cynthia,
You make a great point. Students do need to understand the assessment process. I think we underestimate that. You want them to understand that the assess is to determine what they know and don't know based on the course objectives. I didn't used to go over the objectives as well in my course but now I do.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Two important things when conducting summative assessments are:
1) Formulating an assessment that includes placement of value on the learning process. I believe some of this is loss because it is focused on in the formative process.
2)Students need to understand the evaluation process as well.
Dr. Vessel
Lindsay,
You make great points. The summative assessment should measure the objectives. I love your statement, assessment should not be a mystery. I agree. Students need to be reminded about the learning goals of the course and/or unit.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Stacy,
Great strategy. How do you use it to evaluate your teaching?
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
