Assessment and Evaluation in the Instructional Design Process - Coursework Example

Assessment and Evaluation Assessment and evaluation are essential elements in education and they enhance its effectiveness. The two have several things in common but are still dissimilar in certain respects. Whereas both have formative and summative forms, the purposes of each are distinguishable. The use of assessment and evaluation in the instructional design process is another reason why this are concepts worthy of study. Key Words: Assessment, evaluation, formative, summative, and instructional design process Assessment and Evaluation Assessment Definition Assessment denotes the ways used in measuring and documenting students’ learning progress and their acquisition of the skills taught at different levels of education. This happens through the collection and interpretation of information about students’ skills and capabilities. On the other hand, evaluation refers to the collection of information about a learning process, the outcomes, context, methods, and content of an educational activity. Whereas it implies measurement, evaluation is different from assessment because it draws explanations and conclusions (Stiggins, 2002). Purpose Assessment helps identify what students know and expresses their understanding of certain concepts. Much of what children get right are the things that they have understood well and much of what they fail is the ones they have not yet internalized. Teachers use assessment to determine the special needs of different students. This is seen in the areas in which every student excels and the ones in which they are weak. Teachers use assessment to decide on how to implement learning activities. They discard the methods of implementation that do not work and adopt ones that work. Through assessment, teachers are able to craft lessons, activity plans, goals and pick appropriate materials of teaching different concepts (Wininger, 2005). Evaluation Definition Evaluation, on the other hand, enhances learning by providing new learning opportunity and additional knowledge. This draws from the reflective praxis of the actions involved in the evaluation process and that allow involved actors to arrive at their own conclusions. Another purpose of evaluation is to instigate change and make improvements. This follows the detection of the weaknesses or failures of a program. Purpose An evaluation can be carried out with the purpose of informing better planning. This is because it provides insight into the things that needs to be avoided or included in order to realize better results. Finally, evaluation helps rate the extent to which a program meets its set objectives (Osana & Seymour, 2004). Formative assessment and summative assessment One of the purposes of formative assessment is to provide feedback while in the process of instruction. Besides measuring students’ progress, formative assessment can provide feedback on an instructor’s progress. Students establish their progress towards success and able to notice the areas in which they need improvement. On the other end, teachers find formative assessments important bases for their future decisions regarding instruction. This twofold purpose of formative assessment is import because teachers can decide to rush through the syllabus in order to make up for lost time whereas many students may not understand much of what is taught in a rush. This is because they lack quality time to interact meaningfully with the taught content hence cannot retain much of it. Examples of formative assessments include homework exercises, questions and answer sessions, conferences and in-class observations (Bell & Cowie, 2000). Summative assessment measures the success of a learning activity because it occurs at after learning has taken place. In a way, it serves to sum up the teaching and learning process. Only incidental learning can occur at this point. The rubrics that accompany summative assessments serve as guidance to students on to the requirements of a project or assignment. These rubrics enhance the objectivity of teachers when making students’ assignments. Summative assessments are used to determine whether a student proceeds, or does not proceed to the next level. Term papers, examinations, portfolios, projects, and students’ evaluation of a course are example of summative assessments (Wininger, 2005). Formative and summative evaluation Formative evaluation test runs projects and programs in their developmental or implementation stages with an aim to provide information on how to revise or improve them. This type of evaluation certifies that the goals of a give program are being achieved and identifies aspects of difficulty in order to recommend remedy. Additionally, formative evaluation seeks to establish whether there is new information and that this information is building on previously set learning prerequisites and future instruction. Using formative evaluation, learners are assessed for knowledge of procedures, tasks, processes, principles and rules needed to achieve the objectives of a given learning unit. Pilot survey and quarterly monitoring are examples of formative evaluation (Jonsson & Svingby, 2007). Summative evaluation assesses programs at the end of their operating cycles and their findings are used to decide whether the program is fit for adoption, continuation or needs improvement and modification. This evaluation is instrumental in making decisions on whether there is need for changes in the resources required for the implementation and execution of the project. The outcome of summative evaluation is important in comparing the effectiveness of different projects and making decisions based on their results as to their future budgetary requirements. Using summative evaluation, teachers are better placed to understand the process of change and establish what works and what does not, and the reason why this is so. Examples of summative evaluation include ratings of performance and teacher-made tests (Cohen et. al., 2002). The use of assessment and evaluation in the instructional designing process Many instructional designing processes include analysis, designing, developing, implementing, and evaluation. Assessments help in identifying the goals of the proposed instructional design. Different subjects have different goals and a single lesson may have one or two major goals. These major goals are crucial in the development of specific learning objectives and assessments can capture this accurately. Quite rightly, assessment investigate the skills with which a given instructional design model seeks to impart students. Evaluation has an indispensable role in examining the learners targeted by the said instructional design. Learners’ background is one of the parameters pertinent to understanding learners. Another important consideration when studying learners is their preferred learning styles. Learners’ level of knowledge on a topic is an item of interest for evaluation during an instructional design process. Evaluation will also call for attention to obstacles to learning. Obstacles may include anxiety, lack of concentration and color blindness (Black & William, 2003). In the designing stage, specific learning objective and both assessment and evaluation have central roles. Specific learning objectives describe explicitly the expectations of an instructional designer on his or her target students. Some of the ways in which learning objective can be assessed include tests, presentation, papers and projects. A viable way of ascertaining how much learning has taken place of to measure how accurately learners can use learned concepts in context. Some of the assessment tools that demonstrate the achievement of learning objectives give students an allowance of choice and they require students to show concrete mastery of skill (Stiggins, 2002). In the developing stage, instructional strategies are identified and classroom logistics are established. Classroom logistics may include arranging the classes in rows or organizing learners into teams and here evaluation is critical. An instructional design process then moves to implementation stage where the design is put into practice. The final stage is evaluation where one examines whether the process was a success or a failure. Evaluation captures the success or failure of a design by enquiring into the students’ reactions and learning (Cohen et. al., 2002). Students’ reactions feature in terms of whether the students liked or disliked the course and learning is captured in the analysis of whether learning was achieved. In conclusion, formative assessment is conducted in the process of learning while summative assessment is done after the learning activity. Formative evaluation is executed on a program in its initial stages whereas summative evaluation at the end of a program seeking to establish areas that need changes and modifications. Assessment and evaluation are used variously in all the pertinent stages of instructional design process including analysis, designing, developing, implementing, and evaluation. References Bell, B., & Cowie, B. (2000). The characteristics of formative assessment in science education. Science Education, 85, 536–553. Black, P., & William, D. (2003). ‘In praise of educational research’: Formative assessment. British Educational Research Journal, 29(5), 623-637. Cohen, E.G., Lotan, R.A., Abram, P.L., Scarloss, B.A. & Schultz, S.E. (2002). Can groups learn? Teachers College Record, 104(6): 1045–68. Jonsson, A., & G. Svingby. (2007). The use of scoring rubrics: Reliability, validity and educational consequences. Educational Research Review, 2: 130–44. Osana, H.P., & Seymour, J.R. (2004). Critical thinking in preservice teachers: A rubric for evaluating argumentation and statistical reasoning. Educational Research and Evaluation, 10(46): 473–98. Stiggins, R. J. (2002). Assessment Crisis: The absence of assessment FOR learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 83(10), 758-765. Wininger, R. S. (2005). Using your tests to teach: Formative summative assessment. Teaching Psychology, 32(2), 164-166. Read More