7.2 Notes: Grading as feedback: Responding to student work [± 50 minutes]

2.1 Formative assessments

Formative assessments, so called because they offer the student an opportunity to gain proficiency, make natural scaffolds for summative assessments, which offer students something more like a final or definitive evaluation of their achievement. As such, formative feedback helps to identify where and how students may improve their learning or performance ahead of a summative assessment or evaluation (Taras, 2005). The assessments that prompt this kind of formative feedback are often ungraded or count very little towards the entire course grade. Because formative assessment is low risk or low stakes, it represents a safer space for students to voice any confusion around concepts or gaps they may have in their knowledge.

Formative assessments act as indicators of the knowledge gaps students may have or the concepts with which they could be more familiar. The feedback that flows from them should identify how these knowledge gaps may be addressed. Ideally, students can engage with and use formative feedback immediately to improve their performance in their next task or assignment. Formative feedback is an invaluable tool for both teachers and students (Price, et al., 2010).

Here are some strategies for formative assessments:

• Provide opportunities to demonstrate learning. In line with active learning techniques, provide students opportunities in class to demonstrate what they have learned in ways that align with what they may be asked to do in their higher-stakes assessments. Have students work through a problem in pairs, brainstorm an outline for their next term paper, or summarize the main points of a lecture. Pick two or three groups to share their work with the class and give them feedback on the spot. This way, you can get a general sense of how students are doing, and all students can reflect on their own performance compared to the examples drawn out in class. 

• Scaffold assignments. Require students to submit a proposal on an assignment, or to complete a draft of a paper or project iteration earlier in the semester, and have them bring it to office hours for feedback. For presentations, allow students to rehearse in groups and receive peer feedback before a final presentation is due.

• Try a minute paper. At the end of a session, module, or section of a course, ask students to respond anonymously to a prompt for one minute. These prompts can be something like: What was the main point of today’s session? What is the most striking/disturbing/surprising aspect of today’s session? What is one question that remains? Collect these responses for a quick skim to get a sense of where everyone is. You cannot address every response, so in the next meeting, summarize main themes and give some indication to students of where they should be. For example, “If you answered something like this <example response>, then you want to focus on ‘x’. If you answered something like this <example response>, you are on track.”

• Use the muddiest point activity. Similarly, at the end of a session, module, or section of a course, ask students to write down (anonymously) one thing about which they are still unclear. Collect the responses and sort through them to get a sense of any patterns of confusion. Summarize your findings in the next class and offer suggestions for helping students work through confusing points. You may even want to spend some class time on reviewing key concepts.
  
  

2.1.1 Classroom assessment techniques

Classroom assessment techniques (CATs) are activities that are designed specifically to gauge students’ knowledge and give them formative feedback that can be used to develop and improve their learning (Angelo & Cross, 1993). Angelo and Cross have developed a guidebook that details the various classroom assessment techniques that are available to teachers. These techniques are divided into three main categories that assess:

1. Course-related knowledge;
2. Attitudes, values, and self-awareness; and
3. Reactions to instruction.

(Angelo & Cross, 1993)

Examples of CATs include minute papers, one-sentence summaries, and the muddiest point activity described in the previous section. Based on the students’ abilities to differentiate between the concepts, teachers can then give them feedback on potential gaps in their knowledge. Angelo and Cross (1993) encourage teachers to experiment with the CATs to determine which ones best suit their teaching goals and contexts.