TeachTalk Webinar: The Value of Formative Assessments in Scaffolded Learning

While it is important to test your students' knowledge in a course, it is even more important to do formative, or low stakes, assessments. Formative assessments assist you in gauging student comprehension and identifying those areas that need re-teaching. And they don't have to be complicated or time-consuming for you as the instructor, or for your students!

This week's TeachTalk webinar was presented by Mark Fogelson and Katrina Fogelson, Instructional Designers from Arizona State University's College of Health Solutions. In addition to discussing best practices for incorporating formative assessments into courses, Mark and Katrina shared a helpful guide that rated the effort needed by the instructor and the potential reward for the students for each type of formative assessment. Specifically they provided ratings that considered: creation time, ease of delivery, turnaround time, level of engagement, and utility.

Mark and Katrina also showcased a tool that instructors can easily use for formative assessments in the classroom called, Pear Deck. The technology is an add-on to Google Slides, and provided excellent immediate feedback to them as they moved along in their presentation. Also, it engaged the participants in the webinar to follow along and ask for clarifications along the way. Participants can watch as others anonymously input their answers or questions. Our favorite part was when we were able to select an item on the screen to "vote" for which formative assessment type we'd implement in our classrooms. This visual was interesting to participate in, as well as to see for results. 

For more information, browse the resources below:

• Webinar recording 
• Presentation slides (PDF)
• Discussed during presentation
• Pear Deck
• jigsaw.org
• Collaborative Learning Techniques (COLT)
• Cooperative Learning (Kagan)
• Make It Stick by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger, and Mark A. McDaniel
• Resources from presenters
• The differences between formative and summative assessment - Infographic
• 20 simple assessment strategies you can use every day
• Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention
• Repeated test taking better for retention than repeated studying, research shows
• Closing achievements gaps: Revisiting Benjamin S. Bloom’s “Learning for Mastery”

Join us for the next webinar, on November 19th, as we will be discussing transformative learning theory!