Overview

So far in this module, we've focused on the importance of developing learning objectives that define the purpose of your course and guide you in developing appropriate learning experiences for your learners. As noted previously, learning objectives also play a role in learner assessment. At points in the learning experience you design, you will need to include assessments to determine whether or not your learners are able to achieve or master the learning objectives.

In general, we design two types of assessments:

Formative assessment measures student learning during the the learning process,
Summative assessment measures learning that occurs at the end of the learning experience.

Below is a list of assessment considerations from the WGBH Educational Foundations, The Guiding Principles of Assessment:

Assessments measure students' attainment of learning outcomes.
Assessments measure the level of student success.
There should be a connection between the way students learn the material and the way they are tested on it.
Assessments should be varied.
Assessments include formal and informal evaluations.
Students should know the assessment plan at the beginning of a course.

Methods of Assessment

Both formative and summative assessments are designed to measure the skills and knowledge the learner has mastered during instruction. While quizzes or tests are often used to assess mastery, there are countless other assessment methods that could be equally (or more) effective for the given learner population, context, and learning objectives. It is important to keep in mind that the personas and needs of your learners, as well as the context and objectives, should influence which assessment method you design and develop. Varying the methods of assessment throughout a lesson or unit of instruction will help to support appropriate skill and knowledge assessment, and appeal to different learning and testing preferences of the learners. Beyond a quiz or test, other methods of assessment for adult basic education may include:

Source: Saskatchewan Advanced Education and Employment
Methods of Assessment	Assessment Description	Example Strategies
Performance Assessment	Learners are given a variety of tasks and situations where they can demonstrate understandings and apply knowledge, skills, and the Foundations of Science to a variety of contexts.	Design and conduct an experiment Demonstrate a skill or set of skills Design a classification or measurement system
Authentic Assessment	Assessments tie directly to the applications of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes in the real world.	Project-based instruction Simulate a workplace training experience
Holistic Assessment	Incorporates a wide range of assessment pieces to provide a total picture of the learner.	Portfolio Focus on Mind, Heart, Spirit, and Body Problem or project-based learning Invention

For other examples, here is an Assessment Tool Resource from Scholastic.

Your Design Decisions

Thinking about your lesson's objectives, the real-world problem or task that is the focus of the lesson you are designing, as well as the instructional activities you have designed, what types of formative and summative assessment activities could you incorporate into your lesson to measure your learners' attainment or mastery of the learning outcomes? What are ways that you can connect the way they learn the material and the way they are assessed on it? How can you vary the assessments to include both formal and informal assessments?