Evaluation, or testing of performance/knowledge, is the essential half of the formative/summative duo.
Evaluation is not just the narrow aspect of assigning of grades to students. Evaluation provides a mechanism for:
- Determining the effectiveness of teaching
- Insuring the learning objectives are being met
- Providing the student individual feedback
- Providing another learning experience for the student
During a recent OSCE debriefing, a student asked, “Was this supposed to be formative or summative?”
I responded that my OSCE was designed to be formative, but my bosses insisted that it be used in a summative way. But I think that few educational settings are purely formative or purely summative. Most educational experiences have elements of both.
Here, you will find links to some of the evaluation materials I’ve used:
OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Exam)
Points of Knowledge Test