There are many types of assessments used to check learning.  Generally, formative assessments are learning activities that appear throughout a course, whereas summative assessments usually appear at the end. The table below summarizes the differences.

Formative (learning activities, challenges, learning aids, knowledge checks, guided practices, learning modules)

Summative (activities, tests, quizzes, challenges, exams, assessments)

Low consequences for failure (learners can reverse decisions and responses)  Feedback prescriptive and instructive, guiding the learner Used as a learning aid or practice Can be used to diagnose areas where learners need to improve Used as a basis for improvement or checkpoint before continuing to the next section Feedback appears frequently, usually after a learner chooses a response or makes a decision Usually appears at the end of a section and covers only one or two sections (non-cumulative) Qualitative feedback

High consequences for failure (learners may have to retake the whole test) Learners only given one chance to answer each question Decisions (such as in a selling simulation) not reversible Used to determine if learners pass or fail the course Feedback is corrective (learner should know material by this point) Feedback can appear after each question or cumulatively at the end Usually appears at the end of a course or after many sections (cumulative) Qualitative or quantitative feedback (depending on number and nature of previous assessments)

Match assessment types and questions with the outcome you want

The best place to start in your assessment is with your learning objectives. In fact, you can map out your assessment questions before even writing the course as a way to keep the questions focused on the objectives. What behavior or outcome do you want to affect? This is where it’s useful to pull out the Bloom’s Taxonomy and decide which level of learning you want for each assessment question or section.

Try to focus on the behavior you’re trying to affect. For example, say a learning objective calls for sales reps to know enough about product specs to make the right recommendations to customers. You may find yourself writing assessment questions that test learners’ knowledge of product specs, but is memorization the behavior you’re looking for? Probably not. What you probably want the sales rep to do is know how and where to find those specs. In that case, your assessment would instruct learners to use the sales tools at hand to find the right specs instead of requiring them to memorize the specs.

Tips

The following tips are guidelines for knowing what to do and what to avoid when writing summative assessments:

• Map your questions to the course’s learning objectives.
• Feel free to use prescriptive feedback (especially if the course is light on activities).
• Keep feedback short.
• Make sure correct answers are similar in length to incorrect responses (i.e., avoid the tendency to make the correct answer the longest one).
• Make all possible responses reasonable (second-guess some incorrect responses that learners might come up with).
• Use humor sparingly.
• Avoid constructions like “Which of the following is NOT…” and, in your feedback, “none of the above” or “A and C only.”
• If you use “all of the above,” make sure it isn’t always the correct answer.
• Make sure the answers to assessment questions can be found in the course; if you want learners to use data sheets or other sales tools, indicate that in the instructional text.

What has worked for you when you write assessments?