Formative and Summative Evaluation
Meet the Team:
Jawhrah Emily Stephanie Christina
Formative Evaluation:
The ongoing process of assessing student achievements while the course or program is in progress.
Example of Formative Evaluation:
- Written Exams.
- Final paper.
- Final projects.
- Presentations.
The process of evaluating student achievements and progress at the end of the course.
Examples of Summative Evaluation:
- Class discussion.
- Questionnaires.
- Journal
- Self-evaluation.
Looney, J. W. (2011). Integrating formative and summative assessment.
Formative Assessment
In an interpretive phenomenological qualitative study by Koh; a convenience sample of twenty nurse educators were surveyed and interviewed in order to study the use of formative assessment in nursing education (Koh, L. C., 2010). The results of the study included several points. First of all, faculty must be cohesive in their beliefs toward formative assessment as well as individual teachers must feel that their methods of evaluation are congruent with that of the program or they will not apply the agreed upon formative assessment. Secondly, feedback is fundamental to formative evaluation and can be from student to teacher, teacher to student, or peer to peer. Some teachers use the formative assessment process as part of the summative evaluation. Many teachers disagree on the point in time when formative evaluation should take place such as an ongoing process, midpoint, or whether methods should be formal or informal. Teacher’s use the information gathered from formative assessment for multiple reasons including decision making for providing supplementary help to certain students, or changing teaching tactics to enhance learning for all students. Another important point from the study is that faculty should be cognizant that formative evaluation should be aligned with both summative assessment and learning outcomes. Overall, the study found that the use of formative assessment should be a valued component of the curriculum development process.
Reference
Koh, L. C. (2010). Academic staff perspectives of formative assessment in nurse education. Nurse Education in Practice, 10(4), 205-9. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2009.08.007
Summative Assessment
Summative evaluation is discussed in this article with regards to ways that one institution in the Southern United States collected information for summative evaluation of their nursing program. Summative evaluation serves a wide variety of purposes from evaluation of the overall quality of a program and determining whether the program met the mission, goals, objectives, and outcomes of the program, to collecting data that can be useful for curriculum funding and change if necessary (Story, Butts, Bishop, Green, Johnson, & Mattison, 2010). New and innovative ways to collect data that can be used for summative evaluation are discussed in this article as previous methods such as mailing out surveys were found to be no longer effective. New techniques for summative evaluation that this university implemented included online alumni surveys via the use of email and social media. Summative evaluation was also obtained in the clinical setting in the form of a questionnaire to preceptors of capstone students addressing whether or not the students presented as ready to transition to the RN role. This survey aspect allows programs to evaluate specific areas that may need improved education in order to better prepare students for the transition into the clinical setting. Overall, the article discusses the important of summative evaluation to a nursing program along with the need for redesigned and innovative evaluation strategies in order to promote the highest response rate possible.
Reference
Story, L., Butts, J., Bishop, S., Green, L., Johnson, K., & Mattison, H. (2010). Innovative strategies for nursing education program evaluation. Journal of Nursing Education, 49(6), 351-354
Links:
http://www.slideshare.net/jcheek2008/formative-assessment-vs-summative-assessment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjmM1iN-m-E
References
Eberly Center: Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation. (2015). Formative vs Summative Assessment. Retrieved August 5, 2015, from https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/basics/formative-summative.html
Koh, L. C. (2010). Academic staff perspectives of formative assessment in nurse education. Nurse Education in Practice, 10(4), 205-9. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2009.08.007
Looney, J. W. (2011). Integrating formative and summative assessment.
Story, L., Butts, J., Bishop, S., Green, L., Johnson, K., & Mattison, H. (2010). Innovative strategies for nursing education program evaluation. Journal of Nursing Education, 49(6), 351-354.