Formative and Summative Assessments

Sample Answer

Every learning program should have a purpose. There should be some objectives to meet, and the best way to evaluate whether goals are being met is by using assessments. As nurse educators engage in different education programs, they must evaluate their learners’ progress to know whether they are on the right course. Depending on the outcomes, they can modify the learning process or devise other strategies for improving outcomes. Formative and summative assessments play different roles in program evaluation. This paper examines their differences, provides examples of each and analyzes the contexts where each assessment can be used.

Differences between Formative and Summative Assessments

Formative and summative assessments are critical learning components. According to Connolly (2018), they help students learn since they show them [students] how they progress in the class or a program. Depending on the program and its outcomes, students can get a lot of information through assessments concerning whether they understand the course material or not. Through the feedback from assessments, students get motivated to work harder and learn concepts from different areas.
Despite this resemblance in the general roles, formative and summative assessments differ in several areas. The first difference is when each assessment takes place during the learning process. While explaining the differences, Tobin and Feit (2020) noted that formative assessments occur severally during the learning process; they are an ongoing activity.

On the other hand, summative assessment occurs not during but after a program or unit’s completion. The second difference is the strategies used. Through formative assessments, educators figure out whether students meet the desired objectives by monitoring the learning process. The case is different in summative assessments since educators assign grades. Mahshanian et al. (2018) further explained that purposes differ too; formative assessments focus on improving students’ learning while summative assessments focus on evaluating achievements. They occur at different times of the program, and educators should know how to use them appropriately.

Examples of Formative and Summative Assessments

For an educator to improve learning outcomes, assessments should differ in scope and purpose. A suitable example of formative assessment is idea comparison. After a concept is introduced, different student groups can compare ideas to agree or disagree depending on how they understand the concept. Another example is turning in research for early feedback. Examples of summative assessments include end-of-program tests or a final project. They consider evaluation as a product as they assess understanding of content from different chapters.

Application

A nurse educator must understand when to use formative and summative assessments. The best time for a formative assessment is when learning takes place. Students can do a quick test at the end of the chapter to test their understanding of the chapter’s content. Before introducing any new idea, formative assessments can be used to assess students’ understanding of the previous idea. Summative assessments should be used when the course is complete. They should assess learners’ comprehension of different concepts. Here, learners should discuss concepts in detail to prove that they have understood and can apply knowledge in real-life situations as desired.

In conclusion, learning is incomplete without assessing learners’ understanding. Learning should be improved depending on learners’ performance, and the best way to assess comprehension of ideas is through assessments. Formative and summative assessments are commonly used but differ in many ways. They differ according to when they are applied in the learning process, purpose, and strategies used. Nurse educators can use them to assess program outcomes and integrate new methods or ideas as learners’ outcomes obligate.

References

• Connolly, M. (2018). Skills-based health education.Bulrington, MA Jones & Bartlett Learning.
• Mahshanian, A., Shoghi, R., & Bahrami, M. (2019). Investigating the differential effects of formative and summative assessment on EFL learners’ end-of-term achievement. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 10(5), 1055-1066. http //dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1005.19
• Tobin, W., & Feit, V. (2020). Student research for community change Tools to develop ethical thinking and analytic problem solving. Teachers College Press.