Summative assessment often takes the form of an assignment or a written exam after students have completed a section of work.
Traditional summative assignments may be more challenging for online students. Online learning and assessment requires more self-direction and self-motivation. Many students are still developing skills like time-management and self-regulation.
Most institutions have a Learning Management System (LMS). But if your students only have intermittent access to the internet, they will not necessarily be able to do online assessments on your institution’s LMS.
Challenge yourself to think honestly. Put yourself in your students' shoes.
What are some of the challenges your students have faced doing summative assessment online?
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Wiliam (2011) and Bennett (2009) agree that it is unhelpful, and simplistic, to equate assessment for learning with formative assessment, and assessment of learning with summative assessment. Bennett suggests that assessments designed primarily to serve a summative function may also function formatively, and those designed primarily to serve a formative function may also function summatively.
Think about this when you do the next formative activity for yourself.
Once you have integrated activities into students’ learning, you have already begun to shift the focus to more formative kinds of assessment.
Complete this true false quiz to check your understanding of summative and formative assessment.
Summative or Formative quiz
Consider each of the following statements about summative and formative assessment. Indicate whether they are true or false, in your opinion:
- Formative assessments provide support for learning and teaching
- True
- Yes, formative assessments can provide support for learning if students are given an opportunity to reflect on their work, check their work with their peers and if the teacher provides constructive feedback. This can be motivating and informative, leading towards success.
- False
- No, formative assessments can provide support for learning.
- Summative assessments are part of a wider assessment strategy that includes formative assessment throughout a course
- True
- Yes, summative assessments are usually a culmination of a series of formative teaching and learning activities within a topic or a logical chunk of content.
- False
- No, good summative assessments should be part of a wider assessment strategy.
- One example of a summative assessment is a paper drafted over a number of weeks incorporating feedback from a teacher
- True
- Yes, students may be given a summative assessment task which they work on and add to as they work through a series of formative teaching and learning activities. As they learn more they reflect on their own work, give feedback to their peers, and receive feedback from their peers and their teacher. The final, summative task is to incorporate all the feedback into a final version, reflecting all their learning to that point.
- False
- No, summative assessment does not have to be a single, final rest or exam.
- Formative assessments never carry any weight towards a final mark
- True
- No, formative assessments can carry weight towards a final mark.
- False
- Correct, formative assessments can carry weight towards a final mark, depending on the purpose and nature of the formative assessment. Even though formative assessment is more a supportive strategy, the purpose of formative assessment could demand a higher weighting, and could even serve as a summative assessment.
- Summative assessments are demonstrations of learning against all the outcomes in a course
- True
- No, it is seldom possible to assess all the outcomes of a course in a summative assessment.
- False
- Correct, summative assessments are demonstrations of learning against specific outcomes at a particular point along a learning pathway. Even a summative assessment at the end of an entire course is unlikely to assess every single outcome. That would be unmanageable.
- Discussion among peers, and guided group and/or individual work are examples of formative assessment
- True
- Yes. For this kind of formative assessment, it is important to give clear instructions and guidance on what is expected of students. This could apply to almost any teaching and learning activity in which students respond and share, and give and receive feedback, even if the work is done individually. Students also need support and guidance on group work and peer assessment.
- False
- No, good formative assessment should take various forms, including individual, pair and group work.
- Students do not need feedback on formative assessment because it is not for marks.
- True
- No, assessment is not helpful if it does not include feedback.
- False
- Yes, it is exactly the feedback that students receive and give as part of formative assessment that contributes to learning and teaching.
- Summative assessments are more valid assessment because they carry a high weighting towards a final mark
- True
- No, all assessment needs to be valid, otherwise why are students doing it?
- False
- Correct, all assessment needs to be valid, and aligned to the outcomes of a particular session, unit, or module of a programme. Even key learning activities, which are usually formative in nature, need to be valid. Otherwise, why are the students doing them?
This quiz will form part of the Consolidated Formative Assessment Quiz you do at the end of this course, and can earn you a partial completion badge.
Our reflection and feedback on the quiz
When you integrate assessment of, for, and as learning into activity-based teaching and learning, you design integrated (summative) assessment that supports integrated learning. In certain cases, it might be useful to think about summative (and formative) assessment as gathering evidence for the purposes of marking, recording and promotion. But, when you want to ‘stop worrying about testing and start thinking about learning’, you can use activity-based teaching that integrates individual study, self-assessment, peer collaboration and assessment for, of and as learning into one activity, or a series of activities. This kind of learning and assessment supports and guides students towards successful learning. You can now see an important relationship between activity-based learning, formative assessment and summative assessment.
Think about this for a moment in relation to your own learning in this course: What did you know already when you started, what have you learned, and what questions do you have that will lead to further learning?
In the next section you will explore what online teaching and learning means for integrated activity-based assessment.
