There are three broad types of assessments: diagnostic, formative, and summative. These take place throughout the learning process, helping students and teachers gauge learning. Within those three broad categories, youll find other types of assessment, such as ipsative, norm-referenced, and criterion-referenced.
50 Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATS) by Angelo and Cross Techniques for Assessing Course-Related Knowledge & Skills I. Assessing Prior Knowledge, Recall, and Understanding The CATS in this group are recommended to assess declarative learning, the content of a particular subject.
In short, assessment is not the end of learning its a tool that fuels better teaching and deeper learning throughout the instructional process. There are several well-established types of assessment, each serving a unique purpose at different stages of the teaching-learning cycle.
You've now explored six different methods of assessment in education and learned how they can be used to support student learning and improve your teaching. Remember that assessment is an ongoing process.
Different assessment methods allow you to assess different skills. For example, while one method may ask students to demonstrate analytical skills, another may focus on collaboration.
Utilizing different assessment methods helps educators receive a whole-student view, rather than defining a student by their performance in a single instance. Below we look in more detail at different types of assessment and the value they bring to the classroom.
Click on specific assessment methods below to reveal recommended learning technologies that could facilitate such assessments. The learning outcome types are in order from lower-level thinking (Recall, Understanding) to higher-level thinking (Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, Create).
Two basic forms of assessment are direct assessment and indirect assessment. These two types of assessment are not mutually exclusive and often work hand-in-hand to give program faculty the best picture of student learning within their programs.
