Glossary
Feedback/Feed-forward
Specific, constructive feedback about learning, as it is unfolding, is one of the most powerful influences on student achievement. Positive feedback celebrates success, and help keep students motivated, whilst constructive feedback highlight important aspects to focus on. Feed-forward provides an outline of the steps to be taken (scaffolding) towards achievement. Feedback/feed-forward includes all dialogue to support learning in both formal and informal situations.
Formative assessment
Formative assessment refers to all those assessment activities undertaken by teachers, and by the students themselves, which provide information, to be used as feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged. Such assessments become formative when the evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching to meet the needs of students. (Black and Wiliam, 1998.)
Formative assessment can also include teacher assessment, feedback and feed-forward as a learning tool prior to summative assessment activity or a summative assessment decision.
Askew and Lodge (2000) view formative assessment as the combination of three dynamic and interactive processes:
- Instruction or direct teaching (the 'gift').
- Construction or dialogue between teacher and student ('ping pong').
- Co-construction or free flowing dialogues between teachers and students together and separately ('loops').
It is widely and empirically argued that formative assessment has the greatest impact on learning and achievement.