“Formative assessment is an ongoing, flexible, and more informal diagnostic tool. While summative assessment is, as the word implies an evaluation of the sum product of the lesson. Summative assessments are more formal, structured, and often used to normalize performance so they can be measured and compared.”
Summative assessments are a mandatory part of every educational institution but this doesn’t make formative assessments any less important. Now with the advent of online exam software, formative assessments have started to gain their lost glory and have once again become a regular part of the academic agenda.
But what makes formative assessments so special?
Defines Learning Goals
To get a clear target to work on, educators need to regularly monitor their student’s progress which can be conveniently done through an online quiz maker that helps in creating interactive formative tests. This further clears any sort of misunderstanding and assisting the students with their queries before they lose track of their preparation.
Motivates Learners/Students
Formative assessments are all about setting possible goals and achieving them regularly. This type of approach enhances the focus in students and motivates them to work towards these goals, which directly affects their performance on a positive scale.
Better Student Engagement
Students must be kept engaged in the classroom environment which can often become a challenge if the students are being exposed to constant monotony. The formative assessment brings that much-needed change in their daily curriculum and gives them a reason to diligently follow the classroom learning practice.
Enhanced Learning Experience
Formative assessments that are created and conducted through online exam softwareprovide in-depth report for every candidate. This report is analyzed by the teachers after which they decide a personalized curriculum that can target the weak points of the students and enhance the strengths that they hold.
Decisions Based on Measurable Data
The data gathered from regular formative tests strengthen the decision making in teachers and helps them to follow a definite path without any confusion.
Is formative assessment back in the game?
Pretty much yes! Now that online proctoring software has emerged as a disruptive technology in the world of online assessments, formative tests have found their way back in. But how has online proctoring made formative assessments a trend again?
Increased scalability
Formative tests are not just conducted by schools but also by colleges, universities, and coaching institutes. Universities have got a large population of students to be assessed at once and online proctoring software makes it happen by providing a secure testing environment, whether the test is being conducted at centers or any other remote location.
Better security
Organizing human invigilators every time a formative test is conducted can become a horrendous task for test administrators. Remote proctoring software eliminates the requirement of a human proctor and monitors the entire test with a combination of advanced level technologies.
Detailed performance report
The performance report is the main guiding source for all the teachers who conduct formative tests, and remote proctoring software provides with one that too instantly. The report consists of overall performance analysis which is based on scores obtained on every question and section of the test.
Where does Summative assessment stand amidst the newly gained popularity of formative assessments?
Even when formative assessments are becoming a major part of mainstream classroom curriculum yet we cannot underestimate the role of summative assessments in shaping the future of students.
Moreover, summative assessments have also been switched to online exam platforms ditching the years old custom of offline tests, which makes it all the more effective.
On one side, where summative tests are considered to be more formal and the ultimate source to derive decision for yearly promotion, formative assessments are the one that acts as a catalyst to lead students towards that final goal (summative tests).