Impact of formative and summative e-assessment on the active learning process
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
2024
Department/School
Information Security and Applied Computing
Publication Title
2024 ASEE North Central Section Conference Proceedings
Abstract
Assessment, one of the most important elements of students’ effective learning process, plays a vital role in the efficient instruction to enhance students’ learning achievement. Since the assessment process is an active part of curriculum that enables students to achieve their planned learning objectives; therefore, it is important to know the impact of assessment on the learning process, especially in the active learning environment. In active learning students learn by interacting with their peers and instructors in a well-designed active exercise. Assessment, which facilitates the learning process and summarizes the level of students’ knowledge achieved, can be mainly two different types: Formative assessment and Summative assessment. Formative assessments aim to enhance support for students’ learning achievement by helping them to understand what learning concepts they are having difficulties or deficiencies in comprehending before their final learning assessment. Providing feedback, formative assessment helps students in their learning progress. Summative assessment, on the other hand, evaluates what knowledge students have learned at the end of the semester or a particular learning period. Thus, summative assessment measures how much students have finally learned over a certain time period. Based on the goal of assessment – formative assessment called as the assessment for learning, whereas summative assessment called as the assessment of learning. Innovative technology can enhance the effectiveness of both types of assessment. In this context, this paper focuses on studying the impact of formative and summative e-assessment on students' learning process, especially in an active learning environment. The paper examines the current scope of e-assessment, especially the probable efficacy and challenges it brings in the formative and summative e-assessment. For that purpose, the paper analyzed the authentic formative and summative e-assessments of active learning in the classes delivered in asynchronous and synchronous methods where students' interactive participation is required. Reviewing the current literature related to formative and summative e-assessment practices, this paper focuses on the impact of formative and summative e-assessment on students’ individual and group assignments in active learning. The purpose of this analysis is to understand the potential of formative assessment that offers feedback in improving students' learning process. Furthermore, the summative assessment, which measures how much students have learned over a certain period of time, is also being reviewed. Consequently, both the formative and summative e-assessment in active learning situations, especially in the group settings where active interactions among group members is crucial, is discussed. Finally, students' learning situations in formative and summative e-assessments to achieve learning objectives have been reviewed. The in-depth understanding of the impact of formative and summative e-assessments on students’ active learning can be beneficial for instructors, students, and curriculum developers in higher education institutions.
Recommended Citation
Ferdousi, B. (2024). Impact of formative and summative e-assessment on the active learning process. 2024 ASEE North Central Section Conference Proceedings, 45622. https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--45622
Comments
B. Ferdousi is a faculty member in EMU's School of Information Security and Applied Computing.