Formative & Summative Assessments: Keys to Student Learning - Essay Sample

Introduction

The formative and summative assessments are two fundamental ways that are used by the instructors to evaluate the learning of their students. Fundamentally, the two types of evaluations form integral components of a lesson plan, which constitutes the instructor's roadmap of what the students need to learn as well as how it is going to be done. Through the assistance of the lesson plan, an instructor can, therefore, utilize both the formative and summative assessment evaluation strategies to assess the learning needs of their students and subsequently help them. As a nurse educator, I believe that the use of both the formative and summative assessment methods are critical in my teaching role.

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Formative Assessment

Broadly, the formative assessment refers to the strategy used to monitor student's learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by the educators to improve their teachings. In the same way, students get the opportunity to enhance their learning. It is critical to note that nursing is a discipline that requires a high level of understanding from students. Ideally, students must be able to develop the necessary skills through appropriate interactive learning and participation to understand the needed concepts.

Selected Formative Strategy-Strategic Questioning

One formative strategy that I intend to use in my lesson plan is Strategic Questioning. This developmental assessment strategy can be used with individuals, small groups, or even the entire class. Ideally, the effective formative assessment strategy through strategic questioning involves asking the students to answer higher-order questions such as "why" and "how." Studies show that higher-order questions need deep thinking from the learners. Using such items in my class will help me discern the level extent of a student's understanding. High order questions put advances cognitive demand on students. Such questions can encourage students to think beyond the literal questions. Further, asking the high-order questions in class will enable the students to improve their critical thinking skills based on the fact that these questions expect learners to apply, analyze, evaluate and synthesize the information instead of merely recalling the facts.

The data collected from the strategic questioning will help me understand the ability of my students to apply, analyze, evaluate, and synthesize various concepts related to the topics of nursing. This will allow the students to adapt based on the results, making modifications and improvements that will generate immediate vital for our students. Knowing my students' abilities will be critical in understanding the possible developments that they need. As an educator, I will be able to utilize those feedback to identify the weaknesses and strengths of learners. This information will thus be critical in improving the student's skills while the learning process goes on.

Summative Assessment

Summative assessment is any strategy of the evaluation carried at the end of a given unit that enables teachers to measure a student's understanding, specifically against the standardized criteria. The objective of the summative assessment is to evaluate students` comprehension of the material provided at the end of a unit of work, and more often than ever, it is estimated with a grade or percentage on the given subject. As opposed to the informal nature of formative assessment, summative assessment demand a precise expectation and stipulated timelines to afford the students a superb opportunity to succeed.

Usually, with summative assessment, teachers or education instructors employ rubric or assessment criteria to make sure that the students have a comprehensive knowledge of what they expect to get in a given test of such kind. Summative assessment results are usually critical because they are principal determinants of whether a student will pass a given unit or class. Now, because summative assessment assists teachers and students in seeing the trajectory of their learning, teachers can use them to establish which students are ready for other's tasks or not, as well as which students need extra time to build a specific concept.

Selected Summative Assessment

As a nurse educator, using the summative assessment to assess my students will be critical. One summative strategy that I will use as part of my lesson plan is the End-chapter or Unit Test. A growing number of studies have shown that the end-chapter tests are critical in testing the ability of the learner to understand, synthesize, and apply the chapter concepts they have leaned. Written evaluations or tests where students are tasked with writing an original piece, for instance, concepts of nursing. There will also be a summative performance assessment where students will be required to perform an activity.

I will be able to use the data collected to apply summative assessment in the nursing classes and apply it to learners in the classroom. This can be used to examine how nurses can utilize summative assessments to define if a clinical strategy was fruitful for a client or not. Further, I believe that my students will be able to use the same evaluation that can be used against me. For instance, my students will be able to use the data from the summative assessment to find out if my instructional strategies are meaningful for them or not. In a broad view of summative assessment that is a learner-centered classroom, education instructors are not entirely responsible student's learning and performance, but rather, the students cut a pie and play a vital role in their education.

Description of the Instructor Satisfaction Survey

An instructor satisfaction survey is a fundamental tool in the teaching and learning system. Ideally, the survey the students to provide views and feelings about the course and its content, as well as their connection to the instructor. It also offers an opportunity for the students to reflect and provide feedback regarding their learning. As a nurse educator, I believe that the survey will be critical in helping me better understand my students. The instructor survey will, therefore, consist of the questions, which will revolve around the characteristics of the instructor, mode of delivery, the nature of the course contents and materials, their connection with the instructor, and any other improvements they would like their instructor to adopt.

I believe that the survey will provide me with student feedback and, with the inside, look at the student's expectations within the classroom. I will be able to know if the students think that I explained the materials clearly. I will also be able to tell whether or not the students think if I was easily accessible outside the class or not. Undeniably, I will get to know what my students think about the overall course expectations and delivery.

This understanding will be critical in enabling me to know both my strengths and weaknesses to teach effectively. I recognized the fact that nursing practice requires effective interactive teaching and learning between students and their instructor. The adoption of these data will be critical in enabling me to meet the objectives of the class, as well as mine as their instructor.

References

Broadbent, J., Panadero, E., & Boud, D. (2018). Implementing summative assessment with a formative flavour: a case study in a large class. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(2), 307-322. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02602938.2017.1343455

Dolin, J., Black, P., Harlen, W., & Tiberghien, A. (2018). Exploring relations between formative and summative assessment. In Transforming assessment (pp. 53-80). Springer, Cham. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jens_Dolin/publication/330993554_Exploring_Relations_Between_Formative_and_Summative_Assessment/links/5da59272299bf116fea8e453/Exploring-Relations-Between-Formative-and-Summative-Assessment.pdf

Hadad, R., Thomas, K., Kachovska, M., & Yin, Y. (2020). Practicing formative assessment for computational thinking in making environments. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 29(1), 162-173. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10956-019-09796-6

Moss, C. M., & Brookhart, S. M. (2019). Advancing formative assessment in every classroom: A guide for instructional leaders. ASCD.