Assessment is a key part of the learning cycle. It is the moment at which a judgement takes place, and the outcome of assessment is feedback. Because of its importance, this page can do no more than scratch the surface of a huge topic. It is useful to separate carefully the type of assessment from its purpose. Types of assessment include exercises, coursework, examinations or project work. Four purposes of assessment include
Diagnostic assessment.
This is designed to establish the extent of past learning. The feedback is often a detailed profile, explaining where a student should target effort, particularly revision, in preparation for future new work.
Formative assessment.
The purpose of formative assessment is to support and inform students' learning. This feedback could be qualitative, eg written or oral comments. Such comments could be detailed and tailored to what the student has written, or brief indications of where students' written work departs from model solutions.
Summative assessment.
The purpose of summative assessment is to establish the achievement of the student. In mathematics, summative feedback is most often quantitative, either a mark or a percentage. An examination provides the majority of the summative assessment in undergraduate mathematics.
Evaluative assessment.
The purpose of evaluative assessment is to measure the effectiveness of the teaching or the assessment of students. Such assessments could have quality enhancement or quality audit functions. For example, student feedback questionnaires. Examination statistics sometimes have a minor evaluative function.
For pragmatic reasons, an individual item of assessment could be used for a number of different purposes. For example, an "exercise sheet" may have a primarily formative function and students' work could be marked against model solutions with comments provided drawing students' attention to correct and incorrect working. The student's achievement is then reduced to a single numerical mark which is a crude formative measure. This mark could also be used for summative purposes as a contribution to the overall module mark. Qualitative comments could be aggregated as an evaluative assessment to inform subsequent teaching (quality enhancement). Marks for a particular piece of work could be an evaluative assessment to ensure a team of Postgraduate Teaching Assistants (PGTAs) are marking in a consistent and fair manner: quality audit. It is the use to which the outcomes of an assessment are put which has a greater bearing on the purpose of the assessment than the form of these outcomes.
Strong messages are communicated to students by the choices made for assessment: staff should consider carefully the purpose of assessment, particularly when this is both formative and summative. A "reward for sustained achievement" needs to be balanced against an "opportunity to learn from mistakes".
Computer aided assessment
Computer aided assessment (CAA) is where e-learning and assessment collide. As a result, CAA is really another form of assessment and its merits and difficulties should be considered alongside assessment in general. This is a rapidly growing field, with a number of different systems and approaches.