3.+assessing+student+learning +text

Assessing Student Learning
After determining what you expect students to learn, the next step is designing
assessments that measure their learning. Good assessments help both instructors and
students understand the learning progression within the course. Are students achieving
the learning outcomes? Are students confused about particular topics?
Many instructors use a combination of frequent, lower-stakes exercises to help students
apply their learning and cumulative, higher-stakes measures to inform grades. The most
important consideration ensuring your assessments are aligned with your learning
outcomes.
Formative and Summative Assessment

Classroom assessment can be used to inspire development (formative) or measure
student performance (summative). Some assessments can be used in both formative
and summative ways: to calculate grades and inform students about areas for
improvement.
Try This
● Formative assessments provide students with information on where they stand in
the class and are typically low-stakes or ungraded. These assessments provide
instructors with important feedback on whether the class as a whole understands
the material. Use this information to identify challenging topics and provide
additional support.
○ Here are some assessment strategies that can be used in formative ways:
■ Poll questions
■ Online quizzes (before or during class)
■ Think-pair-share questions
■ Minute papers
● Summative assessments measure student understanding and skills; these
assessments should be closely tied to your course learning objectives. Many
courses use exams, projects, papers, or performance for this purpose.
○ Exams can be administered in formative ways as well. Two-stage exams
allow students opportunities to revisit their errors and improve, ultimately
facilitating both learning and grading.
○ To learn more about other powerful assessment methods such as peer
review, visit our page on Measuring Student Learning.
● Assigning Grades: Many factors affect how instructors decide to assign grades,
including departmental policies and pedagogical approaches. Offering multiple
types of assessments throughout the semester can help reduce student anxiety.
Some instructors also offer students the option to throw out a lowest score or
choose among assignments to accumulate points.
● Using Rubrics: For grading and sharing them with students before assignments
are submitted can both ease student concerns about grading and clarify the
criteria for high-quality work in your course. To ensure fairness, some instructors
also use blind grading, removing names during the grading process.
Selected Resources
Cornell Grading Policies
Cornell has a set of grading policies for faculty.
Learning Technologies that Support Assessment

There are a number of learning technologies that can assist in formative and summative
assessment:
● Canvas is Cornell’s learning management system. It contains a number of

assessment tools, including quizzes, assignments, peer assessments and
discussions.
● Classroom Polling (using Poll Everywhere, for example) allows instructors to
quickly ask questions in class and receive instant responses from students. It is
an excellent tool to quickly assess student learning and engage students in peer
instruction.
● In-Video Quizzes can be used to allow students immediate opportunities to test
their comprehension of course material presented through instructional videos.
Instructors can place quiz questions within the video at designated times and
provide students with instant feedback.
● Turnitin provides students with originality reports for their work and can be an
important tool to help them develop proper paraphrasing and citation skills. It
also can be used to facilitate assessment with rubrics, in-line grading, and peer
assessment tools.
● Survey tools such as Qualtrics are an effective way to determine relevant
background knowledge, identify misconceptions, or provide insight into the
impact of your teaching practices.
● Digication allows students to create an electronic portfolio in which they can
track, reflect on, and collect evidence of their learning.
Angelo, T. A., & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: a handbook for
college teachers. (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Walvoord, B. E. F., & Anderson, V. J. (1998). Effective grading: a tool for learning and
assessment. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Retrieved from:
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Assessing Student Learning

the learning outcomes? Are students confused about particular topics?

Many instructors use a combination of frequent, lower-stakes exercises to help students

Formative and Summative Assessment

student performance (summative). Some assessments can be used in both formative

Learning Technologies that Support Assessment

● Canvas is Cornell’s learning management system. It contains a number of

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