Role of Digital Formative Assessment in Improving the Assessment and Monitoring of Students’ Learning and Their Significance During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Ahmed El-Hashash

doi:10.31586/ojer.2022.25

Abstract

Digital formative assessments have the features of digital learning environment and can be used by teachers to both empower students’ learning and adapt the next steps in the learning process of their students. They are effective tools that can help lecturers and tutors to both collect and analyze the required information and data for supporting the teaching and learning processes. Importantly, digital formative assessments have been particularly critical during the COVID-19 pandemic due to increased students’ learning outside traditional classrooms, limited face-to-face classes and other students’ learning and assessment difficulties at many educational institutions worldwide. In this article, we describe the essential features and importance of digital formative assessments and their recently developed communication methods. We also discuss the significance of digital formative assessments in measuring students’ learning and skills in times of global crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Highlights

The examination of the learning outcomes of higher education students from multiple viewpoints is one of the best methods to determine students’ knowledge
Digital formative assessments have the features of digital learning environment and can be used by teachers to both empower students’ learning and adapt the steps in the learning process of their students [5,18,19]
The constructive digital formative assessments are those with efficient feedback that can identify misunderstandings and provide guidance to improve students’ learning and performance, while valid assessments have contents that are aligned with the knowledge/learning contents of students [4,5]

Summary

Introduction

The examination of the learning outcomes of higher education students from multiple viewpoints is one of the best methods to determine students’ knowledge. While summative assessments contribute to students’ final course mark and help with determining whether they achieved the learning outcomes, formative assessments do not contribute to students’ final course mark. Formative assessments can both determine and monitor the understanding and learning skills of students. Formative assessments are example of the learning assessments that aim to understand the learning levels of students [6]. They can both guide the learning processes and improve students’ learning outcomes [7,8,9,10] as well as enhance students’ learning [7]. Formative assessments are important classroom practices for tutors and lecturers [11] and have been recently identified by [12] as a “policy pillar of educational significance”

Essential features and importance of digital formative assessments

Digital formative assessments’ communication

Significance of digital formative assessments during the COVID-19 pandemic

Conclusions