Abstract
Assessment in education should effectively measure if and how students learn. This paper discusses the integration of formative assessment (FA) into the university education. Summative assessment (SA) provides a summary judgment about the learning achieved after some period of time. SA’s primary goal is to inform external audiences for certification and accountability purposes. Formative assessment is to check students’ knowledge and performance to close the gap between students’ current level of understanding and the desired state via various pedagogical actions. Summative assessment is more common in the university education. However, it does not always reflect what students have actually learned because SA is product-oriented, whereas FA focuses on the process toward completing the product and identifies areas that need improvement. The benefits of formative assessment considered including: improving equity in student outcomes, raising student’s attainment and, building ‘learning how to learn’ skills. To acquire these benefits, we have integrated FA techniques in the following ways. First, the traditional classroom culture is changed to make students confident in learning. Next, the instructional methods have been varied. Lastly, we apply the techniques of self-review and peer review. These methods allow learners to practice higher order thinking skills and autonomy towards their lifelong learning. Furthermore, a valid formative assessment that can be incorporated and standardized into the university’s curriculum is to have students’ presentations of their own works where students have to thoroughly discuss their works. In this way, teachers and learners do not only focus on the end products but the processes
Author Information
Nuttanart Muansuwan Facundes, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand
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