Hello there! Welcome to my assessment thread where I share my thoughts on summative and formative feedback or assessment. Happy reading!
Assessment or the provision of feedback by instructors and colleagues is quite integral in the distance education process. It allows students to improve their skills and performance. Brown and Knight (1994) supported these perks noting that “it is at the heart of the students’ learning experience” (as cited in Rowe, Herrington & Brown, 2014, p. 205). Race, Brown and Smith (2005) shared similar sentiments specifically highlighting that there is nothing more important than the assessment of a student’s work and the feedback that is given to them. They further added that it can affect the rest of their lives and even their profession (as cited in Rowe, Herrington & Brown, 2014). Feedback in general is not only an essential component in the learning process but the types of feedback provided are especially significant. Summative and formative are the two main types of feedback that play crucial roles.
“Summative vs formative assessment” by Tim Handley
Formative feedback is continuous, while summative is periodic, and it is given after the completion of an activity which is usually in the form of a grade. A great exemplar of the former would perhaps be our learning journal for this course. Particularly, we receive continuous feedback while we are working on it. This gives us the opportunity to make improvements and the necessary changes which ultimately can positively affect our grade at the end. Meanwhile, midterm and end-of- term papers are classic examples of summative assessment.
These exemplars can make it easy for me to associate formative feedback or assessment with the cognitivist perspective and summative with the behaviorist perspective. To explicate further, cognitivists view learning as an internal process that involves our mental processes. Meanwhile, formative assessment engages some of the mental processes since it allows students to monitor their learning and ultimately improve it. In this regard, it is more fitting to make an association between cognitivism and formative assessment. Similarly, summative feedback which is usually given in the form of a grade can be considered as a reward, incentive, or positive reinforcement. The principle of reinforcement and punishment is in fact a key component of behaviorism. As such, the associations between the two can be easily made.
However, it can be argued that there is congruence between both forms of feedback and theories in some regard. In this case, they would appear to be in a tango with each other. Simply put, formative and summative feedback can have both cognitivist and behaviorist underpinnings or they can be associated with both theories. Rodak (2012) notes that formative feedback influences both thought and behavior. This assertion is supported by White and Weight (2000) who specifically mentioned that formative assessment “modifies a student’s thinking or behavior for the purpose of learning, and summative feedback assesses how well a student accomplishes a task or achieves a result for the purpose of grading” (p. 168, as cited in Rodak, 2012).
Since behavior modification is another major component of behaviorism, formative assessment can then be associated with the behaviorist perspective as well. Summative assessment can not only be linked to behaviorism in the form of reinforcement but it can also be associated with cognitivism, in that the nature of the assessment or the questions asked in a test can stir higher-order thinking. In fact, Brookhart (2010) referred to this as summative assessment of higher-order thinking. In particular, she highlighted that “for summative assessment of how students use higher-order thinking- for graded tests and projects- a scoring scheme must be devised…” Essentially, this illustrates what I like to refer to as ‘the tango’ between the types of feedback and the theories. Ultimately, interrelations and connections can be made between them.
It is against this backdrop that I find both assessment tools to be meaningful to me. In other words, it is difficult for me to choose one because a mixture optimizes my learning outcomes. On one hand, I really like receiving continuous feedback because I prefer to focus more on improving the quality of the work that I produce. However, I also like receiving summative feedback in the form of grades at the end of my assignments and activities, because it serves as an incentive for me to continue putting in the effort required for me to continue making meaningful contributions and producing excellent work.
What are your thoughts on this assessment tango notion? I anticipate your comments below!
Krista
MDE student
University of Maryland Global Campus
University of Maryland Global Campus | UMGC
References
Ashford-Rowe, K., Herrington, J., & Brown, C. (2014). Establishing the critical elements that determine authentic assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 39(2), 205-222.
Brookhart, S. M. (2010). How to assess higher-order thinking skills in your classroom. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/109111/chapters/General_Principles_for_Assessing_Higher-Order_Thinking.aspx
Rodak, C. (2012). Formative and summative feedback and its impact on learner motivation. Sites. Formative and Summative Feedback and Its Impact on Learner Motivation « Notes on Teaching and Learning
Krista,
First, thank you for a terrific post on the uses and features of both summative and formative assessment.... and how they work together.
I'm already liking the phrase, the "Krista Assessment Tango!" :-)
Can you think of how we might do that dance (incorporate/integrate summative with formative assessment) in a community of inquiry class such as this? Looking ahead at the structure and set up, can you see that we do... or do not?