Course Learning Outcomes and Assessment
At Laurentian University, course learning outcomes are presented and approved to ensure they meet quality assurance standards at the Council of English Language Programs (CELP). Fundamentally, learning outcomes are a list of statements indicating what students should be able to do by the end of the course. For more detailed information on course learning outcomes, please refer to the course learning outcomes guide developed by the Centre for Academic Excellence (CAE) Teaching and Innovation team.
Course assessments are the means to measure and ascertain if students are achieving or able to demonstrate the learning outcomes of the course. That is why it is so important to design your course assessments with the learning outcomes in mind. There are two types of assessment to consider when designing your course: summative (assessment of learning) and formative (assessment for learning). Both types of assessment are valuable and informative to learners and instructors alike. For a basic understanding as well as some examples of summative and formative assessment, please see the text boxes below.
Summative assessment (Assessment of Learning)
- Usually larger and comprehensive;
- Represented as symbols (grades) of how well students are learning ;
- Instructors use evidence of student learning to assess student achievement against the course learning outcomes
- Effectiveness for grading depends on the validity & reliability of the activities;
- Effectiveness as opportunity for learning depends on the nature & quality of the feedback.
Examples of Summative Assessment
- End of lesson quizzes
- Standardized tests
- Exams
- Term papers
- Final projects
- Portfolios
- Presentations
Formative assessment (Assessment for Learning)
- Diagnostic & Formative;
- Learning goals are clear to the learners;
- Occurs during the learning and often more than once;
- Enables profs to use information about student’s knowledge, understanding & skills to inform their teaching strategies;
- Timely, descriptive feedback is critical;
- “Feedforward” is used to motivate learners & can lead to improvement.
Examples of Formative Assessment
- Learning Journals
- Class discussion
- Exit ticket / stop-start-continue
- Concept maps
- Informal quizzes / Kahoot
- Peer and self assessment
- Drafts or components toward a major paper or project
- Practice quizzes
Activity
Use the text boxes below to answer the questions related to your course learning outcomes and assessments. After you have made notes in the boxes below, click on the “Export” option to save a copy of your document to your device for future reference.
