This activity did serve to deepen my understanding of formative assessment because we thought about course design from another angle. We looked at the course considering what we wanted our students to learn, how they could accomplish it, and how they could show us they accomplished it during the course and not just at the end. The most difficult part was to decide upon and then describe the difference between Learning Goals and Learning Outcomes. I also found it to be somewhat challenging to decide on the activities and the rubric that we would use in our formative assessment.
The most salient feature of formative assessment is how is differs from summative assessment. It is on-going and gives us, as instructors, important feedback on how the student is learning, what they are learning, and if they are learning, in our courses before we start grading exams or quizzes and then being shocked with the results from our summative assessment. Hopefully, using formative assessment and applying what we learn from it throughout the semester will help us reach the learning outcomes and goals successfully and avoid any "shock" at the end of the semester when the final grades are due.
I'm glad that you found the in-class activity useful for deepening your understanding. Your group asked many insightful questions which I think was also the impetus for some of your learning.
ReplyDeleteI agree with how you would descibe the difference between formative and summative assessment. The question I would pose to you is, how is formative assessment useful to the student?