Formative assessments such as projects and performances and writing assignments

can have strengths and weaknesses that can help your student or not. Projects and
performances strength are that it allows the instructor to see the abilities of the
students and the students can provide many different ways to present their projects
or performances. These types of assessment can provide many motivations for the
person completing it. If it is individual or in a group base assessment they will all
be working to achieve one same goal and it is different than any other assessment
that they have had to create in the past. Some weaknesses that projects and
performances have are that when working as a team you might have one team
member that does not complete the right work or lacks on participation in the
project or performance. As an instructor it is difficult to see what student is needs
help and what student is not collaborating correctly like the other team mates. This
assessment might have a non-motivating part that will not work for some students.
With writing assignments the strength that it provides is that you are able to
provide feedback to help and motivate the students as well as it gives the students
many opportunities to have a one on one learning experience with the instructor
because the instructor can monitor their learning. The weaknesses of writing

assignments are the poor quality of writing skills that the students might have and
having to go back to basics to help students catch up with their writing skills. Just
as formative assessments have strengths and weaknesses the summative
assessments such as a final projects and a midterm exam have their strength and
weaknesses. A final project and midterm exam strength are that as an instructor
you can evaluate the students learning at the end of a unit or course. It guides the
faculty on their efforts as wells as on the activities and teaching that they can
improve in future courses. A major weakness with these types of summative
assessments is that it has a high point value on the course grade and it might not
define the knowledge of the students if they are not good test takers. You have to
make sure that you effectively examine what type of assessment is best to utilize
with your students to provide their learning in your course where it does not affect
much of their grades.