Learning outcome:
- LO2: Demonstrate an understanding of the different types of feedback and their associated value.
Formative and summative feedback
There is often a gap between teachers’ intentions, and students’ perceptions, of the purpose of formative and summative assessments and the feedback they produce. While teachers regard assessments as occasions for students to practice and learn, and their feedback as opportunities to provide coaching and encouragement, students often perceive assessments as purely evaluative, and their instructors’ feedback as superfluous. (The assignment is already finished; what more can be learned?) As a result, students can find that it is surprisingly easy to ignore all of the careful feedback their instructors have designed for them and focus solely on the grade that looms at the end of their paper or problem set. How can we as teachers encourage students to focus on constructive feedback rather than the assigned grade? Based on the content covered in this unit’s notes, consider the following questions:
- In your experience, what have students’ attitudes towards summative and formative feedback been?
- What are your perceptions of formative and summative feedback? Do you favor one more than the other? If so, why? If not, how do you combine the two effectively?
- How do you help students make the most of the feedback they receive?
Share your ideas with your peers in the class-wide forum.