Formative assessment for development

While reading an article by Qi Wu and Tansy Jessop on ‘Formative assessment: Missing in action in both research-intensive and teaching-focused universities?’, I felt the importance of formative assessment is lost in transition. I should admit – I have learned the importance of formative feedback at Solent. A series of events and experiments helped me come to this conclusion.

I now better understand how and where the learning actually takes place. I was under the impression of summative assessment and its importance in learning. Of course, it is important for grading the learners and their competency. When I think more in-depth, a question comes to me – does summative feedback help students gain new skills and knowledge? There is no doubt about the benefits of formative assessments. However, it has less to do with student learning and more to do with student grading.

It has not been too long since I started using formative feedback consciously, and I have already noticed the increment in student engagement in my class.

My understanding of the assessments is – the formative assessments are ‘for development’, and the summative assessments are ‘of development’.