Ideas for Engaging Assessment Content.
Research has shown that student engagement is related to their performance in the classroom, both in terms of their overall learning as well as in the level of accomplishment on assessment tasks [1]. But how exactly can the learning environment be structured to promote engagement?
Since it’s known that many students are assessment-driven [2], and access to online or virtual learning environments is becoming more common, learning environments are increasingly designed to incorporate low-stakes formative assessments that are integrated within the learning module and capture students’ interest. Unlike summative assessments that occur at the end of a course or year and are often used for high-stakes decisions, e.g., determining pass or fail, formative assessments serve as an ongoing (even daily) check-in that can provide students timely feedback as to how they are progressing along the learning path. Below we provide three tangible ideas to help you create the type of e-assessment content that is likely to resonate with students, while driving them towards higher levels of learning.
[1] Bae, S., & Kokka, K. (2016). Student Engagement in Assessments: What Students and Teachers Find Engaging. Stanford, CA. Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in
Education and Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity.
[2] Holmes, Nataile: Engaging with Assessment. Increasing Student Engagement through Continuous Assessment. Active Learning in Higher Education, Vol 19, Issue 1, pp 23-34
