Formative Assessment and Feedback

"Formative assessment can support meaningful learning by providing opportunities for students to:

• make sense of criteria;
• practice assessment skills/knowledge or entire assignments;
• receive and generate feedback on progression towards specific summative assessment tasks;
• engage with content and/or develop skills needed to achieve learning outcomes;
• receive and generate feedback on general learning progression; create and experiment in a low stakes environment;
• foster a sense of scholarly identity"

(Centre for Academic Development and Quality, Nottingham Trent University, 2013 p1).

Formative assessment is a formative task/assessment which is developmental for students' learning but does not contribute to credit marks.

Examples of formative assessment activities

Activity	Feedback mode
Tests: diagnostic; multiple choice, quizzes	Self, peer, tutor, automated
Drafts, plans and proposals	Self, peer, tutor, Turnitin similarity scores
Concept maps	Peer , tutor
Reflective writing, learning journal	Self
Role-play, real-play	Peer, tutor
Semi-formal discussion or debate	Self, peer, tutor
Individual/group presentation of work in progress	Peers
Crits  - students observe and critique the work of peers, students from other years, practitioners.	Peer, tutor, guest
Online fora, discussions, blogs.	Peers, tutor
Online Q&A/peer support forum	Peers
Cumulative coursework eg portfolio, log, workbook	Peers
Multi-stage submission of assessment	Tutor
One-minute papers	Tutor
In class worksheets (graded)	Tutor
Peer teaching	Peer, tutor
Interviews	Peer, tutor
'Clicker' questions in class	Tutor
Storying - telling narratives from data	Peer, tutor
Tests - in class, online.	Self, peer, tutor, computer
Vivas	Self, peer, tutor
Student designed revision questions	Peers
Comparing model answers with marking criteria	Self
Critiquing/marking examples against criteria	Self, peer. tutor

Adapted from CADQ Guide; Formative assessment and feedback. Nottingham Trent University.

Some Strategies for Student Engagement with Formative Assessment and Feedback

Introduce formative assessment and feedback early in the programme to begin to develop a culture of engagement.

It is important that the tutor gives a positive message about the value of the tasks and the associated feedback/feedforward.  If it is introduced as ‘have a go if you want but there aren’t any marks attached to it” it is likely to result in low engagement.

It is useful to identify the connections between formative and summative assessment and feedback as well as the connections between units.

Include information about expectations in relation to formative tasks and feedback opportunities into the Unit Guide and Assignment Brief to encourage students to view the summative task as a culmination of all activities leading up to it.

You may prefer not to use the terms ‘formative’ and ‘summative’ nor distinguish between formative and summative tasks to encourage students to see assessment as a progressive and ongoing learning opportunity. Terms such as’ practice assessment / practice activity with feedback to help you improve’ may be better understood by students.

Useful resources

www.reap.ac.uk (Re-engineering assessment practices) Resources from a Scottish project to encourage the development of students’ abiltity to monitor, manage and self-direct their learning.  

www.testa.ac.uk  (Transforming the experiences of students through assessment). The website contains tools including the feedback guide for lecturers and nine ideas for feedback week.

12 Principles of Good Formative Assessment

The Re-engineering Assessment Practices in Higher Education (REAP) project devised principles of good feedback practice based on a self-regulation model and showed the benefits of their application using technology across a range of disciplines. www.reap.ac.uk . They developed the twelve principles listed below, and for each a question is suggested for teachers to ask themselves.

1. Help clarify what good performance is (goals, criteria, standards): to what extent do students in your course have opportunities to engage actively with goals, criteria and standards, before, during and after an assessment task?
2. Encourage ‘time and effort’ on challenging learning tasks: to what extent do your assessment tasks encourage regular study in and out of class and deep rather than surface learning?
3. Deliver high quality feedback information that helps learners self-correct: what kind of teacher feedback do you provide - in what ways does it help students self-assess and self-correct?
4. Provide opportunities to act on feedback (to close any gap between current and desired performance). To what extent is feedback attended to and acted upon by students in your course, and if so, in what ways?
5. Ensure that summative assessment has a positive impact on learning: to what extent are your summative and formative assessments aligned and support the development of valued qualities, skills and understanding.
6. Encourage interaction and dialogue around learning. What opportunities are there for feedback dialogue (peer and/or tutor-student) around assessment tasks in your course?
7. Facilitate the development of self-assessment and reflection in learning: to what extent are there formal opportunities for reflection, self-assessment or peer assessment in your course?
8. Give choice in the topic, method, criteria, weighting or timing of assessments: to what extent do students have choice in the topics, methods, criteria, weighting and/or timing of learning and assessment tasks in your course?
9. Involve students in decision-making about assessment policy and practice: to what extent are your students in your course kept informed or engaged in consultations regarding assessment decisions?
10. Support the development of learning communities: to what extent do your assessments and feedback processes help support the development of learning communities?
11. Encourage positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem: to what extent do your assessments and feedback processes activate your students’ motivation to learn and be successful?
12. Provide information to teachers that can be used to help shape the teaching: to what extent do your assessments and feedback processes inform and shape your teaching?