Assessments are More Than Exams - The Final

When you hear the word assessment, what comes to mind? In a previous post, I talked about how assessments are more than exams and how transfer is key to measuring a good assessment. But what actually is an assessment? What makes it good? What is its purpose? Why do we need them?

To answer that, some background is helpful. Selwyn (2011) describes education as “the conditions and arrangements where learning takes place.” Learning can occur in various formats, informal, formal, and non-formal, and be guided by different theories such as behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism.

A comparison of Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism, LET ETH Zurich, 2020

Regardless of format or theory, learning, acquiring new skills or insight, can be seen as either a product (tangible results) or a process (the journey) (Selwyn, 2011). But how do we determine that learning has taken place? In short, how can we prove it? That is where assessment comes in.

As I have said before, assessments can:

• Provide a summative snapshot of learning experiences

• Serve as a formative checkpoint to revise or redirect learning

• Act as quantifiable metrics to move learners through the system

Assessments are tools to measure mastery, but not all tools are the same. You cannot build a house with only a hammer, and you cannot measure knowledge with only a written exam.

Just as learning can draw on multiple theories at once, assessment can as well. In my view, there is no perfect form of assessment, but an effective one is intentional, aligned, meaningful, and manageable.

I believe I accomplished that. I recently created a summative assessment to test knowledge of Epic’s Edit Template Activity. It is a performance task. Learners would receive a complex schedule, with restrictions like what they would encounter in their clinic, that they would need to recreate in Epic. Shepard (2000) said, transfer means applying mastered knowledge in new contexts, so I designed the task to mirror real world scenarios.

Learners would have 1 workweek to independently complete the task and present their final template to the instructor via a Teams meeting. The extended time creates a low-stakes atmosphere, and they would only be assessed on their knowledge and ability to answer questions, not their presentation skills. Additionally, all standards and objectives would be captured by using a 2-column rubric to evaluate the template’s accuracy ensuring it stayed aligned with the clear, concise objectives.

While this assessment requires personalized schedules as part of the performance task, the workload would be manageable for the instructor considering the small number of people who would need to complete the course. And manageable for the learner as it does not require them to do a task that is outside of the realm of their real-world abilities. The assessment would be used to measure the learner’s ability to use the Edit Template Activity in Epic to build a provider’s template in a real world while simultaneously testing their knowledge of terminology and understanding of how the system works by being able to answer questions. Thus, bringing us back to the initial questions:

What is an assessment? A tool used in education.

What makes it good? For me, it is one designed using real world scenarios, clear and concise language, and has a high knowledge retention factor.

What is its purpose? To test the mastery of the material.

Why do we need them? We need to know if the material that is being taught is being learned and if not, how can we better assist in that acquisition of knowledge.

Assessments are more than exams, in fact they can be almost anything, but the best way to make them effective and purposeful is to ensure that they are intentional, aligned, meaningful, and manageable.

*Author’s Note: This blog post was edited with support from ChatGPT.

References:

LET ETH Zurich. (2020 September 24). Learning sciences theories - behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e4GsZFgKQo.

Selwyn, N. (2011). Education and technology: Key issues and debates. Continuum International Publishing.

Shepard, L. A. (2000). The role of assessment in a learning culture Educational Researcher, 29(7), 4-14.