Formative and Summative Assessments

 A formative assessment is an assessment that is less "formal."  It is used to see what information students already know, or what they have learned so far.  However, this is usually not for grading purposes, but instead to promote learning and self-efficacy while also giving teachers feedback.  These assessments are helpful when teaching for learning.

Summative assessment is a more "formal" type of assessment.  Summative assessments are more tests based. For example, after covering a unit, or several units, the teacher may have a summative assessment, or graded test over the information. These assessments aim to summarize learning up to that specific point. They may also be used to identify weaknesses.

I think both of these types of assessment are great.  I really like formative assessments because I feel that a lot of the type they are more beneficial to both the student and the teacher.  In the classroom, I can use formative assessments often to see what the students know and what they are picking up on.  It is also great feedback for me because if there is any area they did not pick up on that is important I may need to review the content with them. I think formative assessments throughout a unit will then help students better prepare for summative assessments. I can then use summative assessments after discussing an entire unit to make sure the students learned what they were supposed to.

I think there are various ways to use instructional technologies in support of assessments.  I think creating  group or individual projects is a great idea because students can then visually present what they know.  Glogster and Prezi would be a couple good resources. Popplet may be used as well.  It all depends on what your preferences are as a teacher.