We all like to feel confident that our learners are ready to take their final assessments and to meet or exceed their target grades.
 

Formative assessment plays a major role in creating a focused and lively learning environment where learners feel confident about their progress and know that their skills are continually improving as a result of your feedback. All practitioner studies show that if we plan for early initial assessments it makes it easier to tailor our support to individual learners and provide opportunities for ‘stretch and challenge’ according to their strengths and weaknesses.
 

Formative assessment can be fun as well informative – here in the Learning Lab we have at least 16 approaches you could use for a variety of situations and learning preferences.
 

For instance you can vary your assessment method to measure knowledge or competencies. Measuring a body of knowledge may include tests quizzes and examinations but a structured discussion can also be stimulating and effective. Observations and work based/ workplace targeted projects can also be useful for measuring competence.
 

Finally remember the key to effective formative assessment is to track learner performance and offer targeted, specific feedback

Have a chat to any TLAIL in the Learning Lab to make a start on your new formative assessment plan!