Relationship between formative and summative assessment in open distance learning : University of South Africa : School of Engineering case study

Abstract

Formative and summative assessments are an integral part of learning. As such, they have been emphasised by educational theorists, practitioners and policy-makers as critical to the success of educational curricula. Formative assessment can be defined as assessment for learning and summative assessment as the process of grading a learner. This paper delves into formative and summative assessment practices and instruments in an Engineering distance learning environment and seeks to correlate student performance in continuous assessment and final summative assessment. A case study of Unisa’s School of Engineering is presented. The Unisa systems of assessment consist of a complex array of infrastructures and personnel. The processes of formative and summative assessment are described in this paper; first the ideal form of formative assessment is discussed, followed by the challenges of the system as experienced by lecturers and learners. This is followed by statistics of the learners’ performance in formative assessment versus summative assessment in a third-year level Chemical Engineering course. A statistical comparison is made of the end-of-semester performance of learners who participate in formative assessment and those who do not.