Define the purpose of your assessment

Formative assessment is used to monitor students’ learning process throughout a course. How much have students understood so far? Which topics need further attention? Formative assessment helps students focus on what’s going well, what needs improvement, and how to address those areas. That is why providing and receiving feedback is essential for this type of assessment.

Summative assessment is used to evaluate students’ learning at the end of a course or unit. Have students achieved the intended learning outcomes? How well have they mastered the material? Summative assessment provides a final measure of performance and is often linked to a grade.

Assessment as, for, and of learning

You can also categorise assessment as assessment for, as, or of learning, depending on its role in the learning process.

• Assessment for learning helps teachers adapt their teaching through feedback.

• Assessment as learning encourages students to reflect and take responsibility for their progress.

• Assessment of learning evaluates what students have achieved, often through final grades or exams.

The diagram below illustrates how these types of assessment relate to both formative and summative purposes.

There are different tools you can use to create quizzes or assignments with: Quizzes are short, often auto-graded assessments used to check understanding, while assignments are open-ended tasks that assess skills like analysis, application, or reflection and usually require manual grading. You can create digital formative tests in Brightspace, Wooclap, FeedbackFruits, the Videoportal and in Ans.

Follow the decision tree below, to find the best tool for your needs.

 

If you want to take the summative test digitally, you can use Leiden University’s Test platform Ans. Before you decide if you want to use Ans, you have to consider the impact a digital test has on your students as well as the practical side of organising a digital test. Depending on the format of the summative assessment, you can also use Brightspace, Turnitin or FeedbackFruits.

Follow the decision tree below, to find the best tool for your needs.