ASSESSMENT

What is assessment?

Assessment refers to methods or tools that

educators use to evaluate, measure, and
document the academic readiness, learning
progress, skill acquisition, or educational needs of
students.
Major categories of Assessment?

There are two major categories:

Formative

Summative
Formative Assessment

Are in-process evaluations of student learning that

are typically administered multiple times during a
unit, course, or academic program.
Summative Assessment

Are used to evaluate student learning at the

conclusion of a specific instructional period—
typically at the end of a unit, course, semester,
program, or school year.
Exercise 1:

Make a list of the different types of

assessments using Padlet
Exercise 2

What are some of the advantages and

disadvantages of using these different types of
tools?
 Advantages of online assessments
1. Fast, efficient and accurate marking of quizzes (Poggio & McJunkin, 2012)
2. Multiple candidates can complete the quiz at the same time or at different times
3. There is no need for specialized personnel which saves cost
4. Increased motivation by students to use the technology (Ripley, 2009)
5. Greater flexibility as students can take the test in school or at home using their mobile
devices
6. Teachers can get instant feedback on the test taken
7. Questions and responses can be randomized reducing the chances of cheating
8. Teachers can assess the problem areas according to cumulative student scores in
questions and assess strengths, weakness and make timely changes to instruction (Dean
& Martineau, 2012).
9. Online assessments take up far less storage space than printed copies.
10. All data can be stored on a single server.
11. Teachers can mix and match question styles on exams and include graphics which
makes the exam more interactive.
12. Features can be embedded to support text to speech, spell check, closed-captioning,
and colour contrast. (Bennett, 2015)
Disadvantages of online assessments

1. There is a need for both teachers and students to be computer literate.

Teachers need to create the assessment and students need to take the
assessment.
2. Poor Internet connectivity could mean that when students logon the signal
strength or power might drop and the test cannot be taken.
3. High cost of online assessment software and infrastructure.
4. Difficult to assess student line of thinking when definite choices are to be
made.
5. Some types of test such as essay writing or cognitive thinking test may be
unsuitable for this type of assessment in terms of marking.