Developing an Assessment Plan

Checking In

Whether you are teaching an online course or not, it is important for students to get frequent feedback on how they are doing. Are they learning what they are supposed to be learning? Are they achieving the learning outcomes? The most effective way to ensure that students get the feedback they need to stay on track is through a comprehensive, balanced assessment strategy that includes both formative and summative assessments.

While assessing your students provides them with feedback on their own progress, it also allows you to get a sense of how the class is doing as a whole and gives you the opportunity to adjust teaching as necessary. On ground classes provide the opportunity to offer a variety of informal check-ins with students, while the online classes requires a more intentional assessment plan. 

 One of the ways faculty do this is by using low-stakes assignments or quizzes to check for understanding.These sorts of frequent, low-stakes assessment opportunities where students self-test their knowledge and understanding of concepts can be very helpful, especially in situations where mastery is the desired outcome. They allow both instructors and students to catch misunderstandings and misconceptions early before other learning is built on a shaky foundation.

*Below is an example of building in quick formative assessment to help students gage their progress in the course. This specific examples comes from the free and so far reliable h5p.org.

 

Click next to learn more about the different assessment types