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Unit 1: What kind of assessment are you using?

From KNILT

Objectives for Unit 1

Critically consider the use of test

  • The limitation of test
  • The need of innovation of test

Think of the need to integrate new forms of assessment

  • Have preliminary understanding of various forms of assessment

What kind of assessment are you using?

Pick up a piece of paper and write down the answers to the following questions:

  1. How do you understand assessment? Or what is assessment for?
  2. What kind of assessments have you used and how did you use them?
  3. How well did those assessments work? Please list pros and cons.
  4. What questions or puzzles do you have about assessment? (Please list more than 3)
  5. What are your learning goals for this course?


Please keep the answer sheet as a record. We will constantly need it during the course.


What do you think about the following cartoon?


Do we pay too much attention on scores? Is the testing the only way to assess students' learning? Have a look at the video to have a overview of the need for the improvement of our educational assessment.

Good assessment

Formative Assessment and Summative Assessment

Assessment is an indispensable part of education for both teachers and students. It is much more than just doing testing on paper, choosing a correct answer from multiple choices. It is also more than a single score which decides whether students pass the exam or not. Authentic assessment is a process that not only improves teachers’ instruction by informing teachers the progress of students, but also facilitates students’ learning by providing on time feedback.

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment is “a process in which assessment-elicited evidence is used by teachers to adjust their ongoing instructional activities or by students to adjust the ways they are trying to learn something” (Popham, 2009, p. 4). Black and Wiliam (1998) also claimed that formative assessment serves as an essential component of classroom instruction; its development facilitates students’ achievement.

Summative Assessment

Summative assessments “refer to the use of assessment-based evidence when arriving at decisions about already-completed instructional events such as the quality of a year’s worth of schooling or the effectiveness of a semester-long algebra course” (Popham, 2009, p. 3).


For more and vivid explanation? Check these videos. Formative and Summative Assessment The Formative Classroom

On Going Assessment

Ongoing assessment is an essential component of instruction for understanding. According to Simmons (1994), there are many benefits of ongoing assessments

1) Ongoing assessment provides a clear standard for students, so that they understand how their work would be judged;

2) Ongoing assessment serves as a “record of understanding”(Simmons, 1994, p. 11), providing “concrete evidence of work” (Simmons, 1994, p. 22) and “ongoing feedback” (Simmons, 1994, p. 22) of students’ understanding. It also serves as a resource for teachers to adjust the curriculum;

3) Constant process of challenging tasks which ask for interaction of performance and feedback is an inevitable process for students to obtain understanding;

4) Students’ papers are perfect understanding performance demonstrating what they have learned and understood.

Self-reflection

Have a look at the answer sheet you have just written. Check the answer for the first and second questions. Based on the reading of this unit, do you find anything to modify or to add into your answer? Try to answer the following questions:

  1. Did you mention the dual function of assessment?
  2. Did you use any formative assessment?
  3. How many formative assessment and summative assessment have you used? Which one is used more frequently?


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