Assessment:
Diagnostic assessment (the term that we learned from EDSC 3200) can help teachers to gain an understanding of students’ current situation, the information about how to improve and the knowledge of what types of learning resources are required. Then, teachers should take actions to adjust their plans or instructions accordingly to ensure that every student can get a valuable learning experience. As a result, learning outcomes can be improved. Formative assessment is similar to a doctor diagnosing a patient. I think that this comparison is interesting and helpful to understand the purpose and benefits of formative assessment. Formative assessment at the very beginning of a lesson can be used for teachers to know students’ prior knowledge and possible misconceptions about a topic. During this process, students’ schema is also activated. Then, teachers are able to make possible changes to their original plans, address students’ misconceptions and meet the learning outcome for every student. More than that, summative assessment is also very important to include because it can be used for concluding and reporting and students can demonstrate what they have learned. However, formative assessment allows teachers to gain more valuable information about whether students are learning and to monitor their learning along the way. Nearly everything that students engage in can give information to support learning and teaching. Formative assessment helps teachers to make changes to their future planning based on learners’ needs and this also links to UDL and DI. Last but not least, assessment before, during and after learning are all essential in a lesson or a unit.