QA4ODFL2/Assessment/Assessment in learning
Any activity that is goal-oriented involves one form of assessment or another. The idea is to ensure that the activity remains on course and that desired goals are achieved at the end. It is best to undertake assessment during the process of undertaking the activity to ensure that effective learning is taking place and at the end of the activity to ensure that learning objectives are achieved.
Perhaps you assess learners several times during the learning process, to judge the extent to which learners are understanding the concepts. This helps you as the teacher to adjust your teaching strategies to get the concepts across better, and it helps learners themselves to know what they need to do to improve their learning. The feedback you give to learners provides critical learning moments for learners. This type of assessment is known as formative assessment – assessment that happens as the learning progresses.
You also assess at the end of a course, perhaps to determine the overall performance of learners in a course. That is summative assessment - assessment that happens at the end of a course. Since learners will have completed the course, summative assessment cannot be used to improve learning (at least for that cohort of learners for that course).
