Combining the formative with the summative: the development of a twostage online test to encourage engagement and provide personal feedback in large classes

Abstract

The aim of this action research project was to improve student learning by encouraging more ''time on task'' and to improve self-assessment and feedback through the introduction of weekly online tests in a Year 2 lecture module in biological sciences. Initially voluntary online tests were offered to students and those who participated achieved higher exam marks than those who did not, but completion rate was low. Making the tests compulsory led to high completion rates, but class performance decreased, indicating that using the same assessment for formative and for summative purposes is not always beneficial for learning. Finally, these problems were resolved by introducing a two-stage approach: the first stage of each test was formative and provided prompt feedback. However, students had to achieve 80% to progress to the second summative stage of the test. The two-stage online tests led to significantly improved class performance. This novel test design ensures that students go through at least two attempts and therefore fully benefit from the learning opportunities presented by the formative stage. Two-stage online tests present the opportunity to provide regular feedback in large classes and to improve performance not only of good but also of ''weak'' students.

Enquiry-Based Approach in Mobile-Supported Classroom to Develop Language Skills

“…These results support our hypothesis that collaborative enquiry-based learning and educational opportunities provided by handheld devices for formative assessment led to a significantly better exam performance for the students who took PeLe quizzes, compared to those who did not. The summative part of PeLe tests ensured a high completion rate, whereas the formative part provided students with prompt feedback and gave them information on what they needed to do to improve their performance (Voelkel, 2013). The increase in the overall exam results was encouraging, but not conclusive enough to show that only PeLe tests were beneficial.…”

“…Recent research has demonstrated the variety of educational benefits mobile technologies have for foreign language learning/teaching, including: an increase in learner autonomy (Murphy, Bollen, & Langdon, 2012); mobile networking collaboration (Lan, Sung, & Chang, 2007;Pemberton, Winter, & Fallahkhair, 2010); new formats for problem-solving, interactive tasks based on augmented reality (Cook, 2010;Driver, 2012); a more personalized learning experience (Petersen & Markiewicz, 2008;Oberg & Daniels, 2013); instant feedback (Voelkel & Bennett, 2013); immediate diagnosis of learning problems and design of new assessment models (Cooney & Keogh, 2007).…”

Creating Quality Online Materials for Specialty Nurse Practitioner Content: Filling a Need for the Graduate Nurse Practitioner

“…Educational materials must not only actively engage and resonate with the learner, but also encourage him or her to seek mentorship and the support of his or her peers [22–23]. Best practices incorporate a variety of interactive strategies to accommodate the multiple learning styles, skills, and experiences of the adult learners [21, 24]. In addition, a well-designed online program must demand time on task and communicate high expectations for the learners.…”

Open Praxis, volumen 6 issue 3

“…The challenge of providing inclusive, engaging and formative feedback to students on their assessments is an area of import for many educators in higher education regardless of the mode of delivery-online or face-to-face (Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick, 2006;Voelkel, 2013). Some traditional methods for formative feedback such as written comments can be perceived as very time consuming by the marker and raises the dilemma of quality feedback versus timely feedback (Wallace & Moore, 2012).…”