Frequent, low-stakes assessments: Balance and benefits
Session Type
Presentation
Room
Physics and Astronomy, room 106
Start Date
16-7-2025 3:00 PM
End Date
16-7-2025 3:30 PM
Keywords
frequent low-stakes assessment, instructor workload, student workload, self-guided learning, student engagement
Primary Threads
Teaching and Learning Science
Abstract
COVID-19 prompted a shift in post-secondary education from largely co-operative face-to-face instruction to almost complete isolation with online learning. Within this transition, there was an increased recommendation for instructors to incorporate frequent, low-stakes assessments into their online practice. Frequent low-stakes assessments are assessments designed with the intention to increase student engagement and stimulate self-guided learning, benefits that would have been crucial during this independent learning period. However, this recommendation provided little specifics on criteria to design and implement these assessments. This lack of specifics, combined with a lack of SoTL literature on these assessments, prompted instructors to produce their own individual versions and applications of frequent, low-stakes assessments for their online practice.
We’ve since transitioned back to instruction with mostly in-person elements, but the effect of these ambiguous instructions persist. The perception of frequent, low-stakes assessments and their usage differs among all instructors, consequently causing students to experience multiple versions of assessments per-week per-course. This experience has led to students becoming overwhelmed with an increased workload and an overall contradiction of the intended benefits of frequent low-stakes assessments.
To address this concern, this project aims to gather institutional data and stakeholders’ (students and instructors) opinions to create an operational definition of frequent, low-stakes assessments, i.e. inform on strategies to implement these assessments into a balanced workload while preserving the intended benefits. This talk will specifically explore data gathered from Canadian institutional Offices of Teaching and Learning (or equivalent) on the regulations for the design and implementation of frequent, low-stakes assessments. The overall goal of this collection is to create a consensus of Canadian institutional criteria, that will then be merged with stakeholder data to create an operational definition.
Elements of Engagement
An online polling software (such as Menti) will be used to gather audience opinions and anecdotes on challenges or barriers towards implementation of frequent, low-stakes assessments that audience members might have personally experienced. The audience will also be given a chance to reflect on their usage of frequent, low-stakes assessments versus the institutional consensus. Additionally, there will be an opportunity to share any thoughts or recommendations for ongoing challenges or limitations that the research project is facing.
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Frequent, low-stakes assessments: Balance and benefits
Physics and Astronomy, room 106
COVID-19 prompted a shift in post-secondary education from largely co-operative face-to-face instruction to almost complete isolation with online learning. Within this transition, there was an increased recommendation for instructors to incorporate frequent, low-stakes assessments into their online practice. Frequent low-stakes assessments are assessments designed with the intention to increase student engagement and stimulate self-guided learning, benefits that would have been crucial during this independent learning period. However, this recommendation provided little specifics on criteria to design and implement these assessments. This lack of specifics, combined with a lack of SoTL literature on these assessments, prompted instructors to produce their own individual versions and applications of frequent, low-stakes assessments for their online practice.
We’ve since transitioned back to instruction with mostly in-person elements, but the effect of these ambiguous instructions persist. The perception of frequent, low-stakes assessments and their usage differs among all instructors, consequently causing students to experience multiple versions of assessments per-week per-course. This experience has led to students becoming overwhelmed with an increased workload and an overall contradiction of the intended benefits of frequent low-stakes assessments.
To address this concern, this project aims to gather institutional data and stakeholders’ (students and instructors) opinions to create an operational definition of frequent, low-stakes assessments, i.e. inform on strategies to implement these assessments into a balanced workload while preserving the intended benefits. This talk will specifically explore data gathered from Canadian institutional Offices of Teaching and Learning (or equivalent) on the regulations for the design and implementation of frequent, low-stakes assessments. The overall goal of this collection is to create a consensus of Canadian institutional criteria, that will then be merged with stakeholder data to create an operational definition.