Education guide 'Eindhoven designs' - Technische Universiteit ...

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Traditionally, assessment is considered to
have a formative and a summative purpose.
The formative goal of assessment is to provide
qualitative information that facilitates,
supports and enhances students’ learning
process and achievement. This formative
purpose is also referred to as ‘assessment for
learning’. This notion stresses the interaction
between assessment and learning: the focus
is not only on the outcomes of learning but
also on the process of learning. We use the
notion of ‘feedback’ for this. Given the goal of
feedback, typical feedback moments take place
during a learning activity rather than after the
conclusion of an activity.
The summative goal of assessment is to collect
information on the students’ achievement in
order to take a formal decision on the student’s
progress in the programme. This summative
purpose is also referred to as ‘assessment
of learning’: the focus is on the result of
learning, not on the learning itself. We use the
notion of ‘assessment’ for this summative or
decision-taking function. Given the focus of
our assessment, a typical assessment moment
occurs at the conclusion of a semester.
The way in which we have implemented
feedback and assessment creates a balance
between assessment for learning (facilitating
learning) and assessment of learning (decide
on the student’s progress). During the
semester, students receive feedback on a
regular basis and from various staff members
whereas they are only assessed once, at the
end of the semester. An assessment tool that
serves both the assessment of and for learning
is a showcase, or more commonly referred to in
an educational setting as ‘portfolio’.
Feedback
As indicated before, feedback is a
very powerful way of supporting and
enhancing students’ learning. It provides
them with qualitative information on how
they learn (process) and on what they
learn (results). Put differently, feedback
helps students understand what their
learning is about, give meaning to what
they are doing, and construct knowledge.
The scope of most feedback is a learning
activity, the exception being competency
coach feedback, which addresses
students’ process of competency
development over a semester as a
whole (see chapter seven). The focus of
feedback is on the quality of students’
deliverables, their design process,
the competency area(s) they have
developed within the learning
activity, and their professional as
well as personal attitude. With
respect to the design process,
the feedback addresses issues
such as the quality of the
performance of the various