Assessments are an inseparable part to gaining knowledge—especially when they provide information and inspiration that point students toward further learning. In order for assessments to have this impact on student learning, they must be aligned with the learning outcomes and activities in the course.

Inspiring Assessments

Inspiring assessments motivate, encourage, and point students toward the next steps of their learning, while at the same time provide instructors and administrators with multiple data points that can be used for evaluation, comparison, and grading. Inspiring assessments are also linked to the real world in terms of their relevance to professional and ethical behaviors, skills, attitudes, and lifelong learning.

An inspiring assessment will require students to perform measurable cognitive (or “thinking-based”) tasks within the learning outcomes of the course. A cognitive task can be anything from answering a multiple choice question, to analyzing a complex set of information, or to designing a power plant. An inspiring and measurable assessment task will provide data for questions such as:

• Did the student complete the task or not?
• Did the student follow the established guidelines of quality, skill, and/or knowledge?
• Does the student understand whether or not he or she completed the task and how well he or she performed?
• Is the task relevant in the “real world” and is that relevance apparent to the student?

Because the task is measurable, the student’s work should be “scored” at whatever level makes sense, such as a complete/incomplete score or a score along the guidelines of a rubric. The scoring of an inspiring assessment should also include:

• What the student accomplished
• What the student did not accomplish
• Prescriptive (and encouraging) directions/instruction regarding the next steps the student should take along the learning path.

This scoring information should then be built into feedback for the students that includes the above and is immediate, informative, prescriptive, and encouraging.

Aligned Assessments

Alignment of assessments suggests the direct link between assessments, learning outcomes, and learning activities. Learning activities include readings, group activities, out-of-class exercises (such as interactions on Blackboard), and other activities that promote student learning.

For an illustration of this type of alignment, see chart below.

In order to ensure this alignment, make sure that each component (assessments, outcomes, activities) has the same action verb of what students will be able to do. For example, if a learning outcome is that students will be able to analyze a situation or set of facts or variables, that same verb “analyze” should be apparent in the learning activities and in the assessments that are aligned with that outcome.

For a list of action verbs that work well with student learning outcomes, activities, and assessments, see chart below.

For a quick overview on how to ensure that your assessments are aligned with your learning outcomes and activities, see the charts below.

In summary, inspiring and aligned assessments of student learning should have the following characteristics:

• Map to the same action verbs that reflect the tasks students should be able to perform.
• Student tasks in the assessment should be measurable.
• Data from student performance should be useful for feedback that is inspiring for the students.

Include tasks that have “real world relevance” for students to perform.