A multi‐faceted formative assessment approach: better recognising the learning needs of students

Abstract

Students are increasingly subject to a series of learning pressures that prevent effective engagement in assessment. Thus, the aim of this study was to create a multi‐faceted formative assessment approach that better enabled students to engage in the assessment process. A formative assessment approach, consisting of six key initiatives, is outlined and shown as being useful in helping to improve student engagement with the subject area of environmental governance. The effectiveness of the assessment approach was assessed via analysis of written student feedback that facilitated analysis of student perceptions of the assessment process. The paper argues that for formative assessment to be more widely embraced, and made more effective in encouraging learning, greater recognition must be accorded to the strategies that can be adopted to facilitate the uptake of formative assessment. A reduction in summative assessment burden and the recognition of the need for better ‘information’ on the aims and objectives of the assessment, and subsequent discussion of these, are highlighted as having played their role in facilitating the uptake, and effective implementation, of formative assessment.

Keywords:

• multi‐faceted
• formative assessment
• summative assessment
• student perceptions

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the three anonymous reviewers for their insightful and constructive comments that served to improve the quality of the manuscript.

Notes

1. Within the UK, at taught postgraduate level, a fail is widely considered to be a mark below 50%.

2. The NUS is based in the UK and is a voluntary organisation that seeks to represent the interests of students studying in further and higher education.