Assessment is an essential part of teaching and learning, as there are usually different ways to assess the learning outcomes of our daily study, regardless of our professor. In all the courses I have taken, most teachers use assignment, quiz, and exams to assess students’ learning outcomes, and most of these are summative assessments. Both summative and formative assessments are used differently in the teaching process, and each has its advantages and disadvantages.
First, I would like to discuss summative assessment. The advantage of summative assessment is that it provides a more visual assessment of students’ learning outcomes. For example, in science subjects such as math and physics, all teachers choose summative assessment because, in these subjects, the learning is interrelated. Students need to master the basics before moving on to the second stage. Each summative exam is a direct test of how well students have mastered the stages of learning, and only a complete understanding of the content can lead to a good score on the final summative assessment test. The teacher’s summative assessment is an excellent visual representation of student learning outcomes. A good score means that the student has a good grasp of the knowledge.
On the other hand, summative assessments are not the best way for students because learning is a process, regardless of the subject matter. Summative assessments are based on students’ memory of knowledge. However, I believe that an essential part of learning is how well we apply what we have learned, and the results of summative assessments are only about students’ memory of what they have learned. As mentioned in this week’s article, summative assessments do not provide feedback to teachers and learners about the learning process and ultimately only reflect summative results. Nevertheless, I think it is imperative to get timely feedback from the teacher during the learning process; just like building a house, the foundation needs to be strong enough, and every brick and tile in the building process is fundamental, but if there is a piece of crooked stone brick is not corrected in time, then it will have a significant impact on the firmness of the house, and eventually, the house is built, but it is not solid and safe. This is the essential part of the summative assessment for teachers and students.
The most significant advantage of formative assessment over summative assessment is that formative assessment focuses more on the process of learning. The teacher and students can get timely feedback through formative assessment to ensure improvement at the first time, and through dialogue, both students and teachers can find out the shortcomings of each other at the first time. I think this kind of learning process is more helpful to the mastery of learning knowledge and allows learners to learn more effectively.
Finally, I believe that the results of learning are not only tested through assessments because the ultimate goal of learning is not to remember much content but to use the knowledge correctly and effectively. Actual effective learning combines all the contents, gets timely feedback and correction in the learning process, and finally applies the learning results to life or other subjects, which is the real purpose of learning. For example, if a child learns to walk and talk, there is no way to walk without learning to sit, crawl and stand, not to mention running and jumping. Similarly, learning to speak also requires a process. After mastering pronunciation, one can learn words and use them to form sentences. Formative assessment is critical at this stage of the child’s development, as it is more about the process than the result. Therefore, each process in learning is the most crucial step in whether we can master the knowledge or not.
The EDCI-337 class taught me many things that I had never been exposed to before and provided me with many practical suggestions on how to learn, and my knowledge of multimedia learning has improved a lot through this class. In my other classes this semester, there are a lot of presentations and assignments that can be used the knowledge in EDCI-337, so I am thrilled that I can take this class, and it has helped me a lot in my study.
Hi Jialin,
Thank you for sharing. I think you give an excellent example of formative assessment. Indeed learning is like a baby learning to walk. There is no way for anyone to get there directly from the first step. For students, formative assessment helps them to know how to know which topics they are lacking. While summative assessments can help students understand where they fail, they cannot correct them. Usually, the summative assessment is the critical point that determines whether a student passes or fails. Usually, I am afraid of the summative evaluation because an exam plays a vital role in college life. If I do not do well in the exam, my overall GPA will be affected. If I fail, I will waste not only money but also time.