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Assessment plays a vital role in shaping student learning, guiding instruction, and ensuring educational equity. The Assessment in Higher Education video series introduces key concepts and historical shifts in assessment, highlighting the evolving relationship between testing, grading, and learning outcomes. These videos provide a theoretical foundation for rethinking how assessment can be used as an ongoing, equitable, and transformative process. Building on that foundation, the Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) section offers practical, low-stakes strategies that instructors can implement immediately to gather meaningful feedback on student learning. From quick tools like the Minute Paper to deeper applications like Problem Recognition Tasks, CATs help instructors better understand student progress in real time. The final section, Feedback, emphasizes the importance of timely, constructive feedback beyond grades to support student growth and mastery. Together, these resources bridge theory and practice, empowering instructors to create more responsive and effective learning environments.

 

Assessment in Higher Education

Assessment in Higher Education: History and Purpose

Assessment in higher education has shifted significantly over time, moving from isolated events to integrated, continuous processes. Understanding this evolution helps clarify the purpose of assessment and its role in supporting student learning.

 

Assessment, Testing, and Grades

While often used interchangeably, assessment, testing, and grading serve different functions in the learning process. Clarifying these distinctions allows for more intentional and effective use of each.

 

Formative and Summative Assessment

Formative and summative assessments each serve important but distinct purposes. When used together thoughtfully, they can provide timely feedback and meaningful measures of student progress.

 

Equitable Assessment Practices

Formative assessment plays a key role in supporting equity by identifying learning needs early and giving all students opportunities to succeed. Small shifts in practice can create more inclusive and responsive learning environments.

 

Designing Connected Assessments

Connected assessments create a cohesive learning experience by aligning assignments and evaluations with course outcomes. This approach helps students see how individual assignments connect to goals, deepening understanding and promoting sustained engagement.

 

Rethinking Grading: Summative Assessment and Equity

Traditional grading practices can unintentionally reinforce inequities. Rethinking how summative assessments are designed and scored opens the door to more fair, transparent, and growth-oriented approaches.

 

Classroom Assessment Techniques

Classroom Assessment Techniques: Overview

Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) are simple strategies that help instructors gather timely, informal feedback about what students are learning—making it easier to adjust teaching in real time.

 

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Classroom Assessment Techniques: Getting Started

A Classroom Assessment Technique is a focused activity designed to reveal how well students are understanding the material. With many types available, instructors can choose techniques that best fit their course goals and teaching style.

 

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Classroom Assessment Techniques: The Caveats

Before using Classroom Assessment Techniques, it's helpful to keep five key considerations in mind to ensure they are used effectively and meaningfully.

 

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Classroom Assessment Techniques: Minute Paper

The Minute Paper—also known as the One-Minute Paper or Half-Sheet Response—is one of the most widely used CATs. It offers a quick and effective way to gather written feedback on what students are learning and where they may need more support.

 

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Classroom Assessment Techniques: Muddiest Point

This quick-check strategy asks students to identify what they found most confusing during a lesson. It requires minimal preparation and works especially well in large, content-heavy courses.

 

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Classroom Assessment Techniques: One-Sentence Summary

This technique prompts students to condense and explain what they’ve learned in a single sentence. It helps with information processing and gives instructors a fast way to assess comprehension

 

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Classroom Assessment Techniques: Applications Card

With this technique, students identify real-world applications of course content. It helps them connect theory to practice while reinforcing the value and relevance of what they’re learning.

 

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Classroom Assessment Techniques: Directed Paraphrasing

Directed Paraphrasing is a technique that forces instructors and students to consider the wider relevance of content. Particularly useful for fields that require experts to translate specialized information in a way that clients or customers will understand, this technique is a worthwhile scaffold for helping students develop such skills

 

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Classroom Assessment Techniques: Problem Recognition Tasks

Designed to help students develop expert-like thinking, this technique asks them to distinguish between different types of problems and determine appropriate solutions—an essential step in building deeper understanding and flexible thinking.

 

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Feedback

Feedback Beyond Grades

Learning improves when students receive timely, targeted feedback tied to their efforts and progress—not just their grades. Encouraging productive practice with meaningful feedback supports deeper engagement and growth.

 

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