Assessment is the systematic way of collecting, reviewing and using information about scholastic programs commenced for the tenacity of improving the learning and development of students. It is carried out to weigh the understanding of information by the learners. The assessment also determines the efficiency of the undertaken program, quality of instructions given and the progress of learner’s understanding. Evaluation is a systematic way of determining the merit, worth and significance of a subject by the use of criteria governed by set standards. It is mostly used to help organizations in decision making and ascertain a degree of achievement by the aim and objectives laid down Evaluation is mainly used to give insight and reflection and aid in identifying future changes (Berta & Moreno-Ger, 2018). While assessment is used as a test to determine understanding of past information delivered, evaluation is used to view whether a subject has met the set standards. Therefore, the assessment is used to identify the kind of skills that learners have gained mostly used in learning institutions. Evaluation is used to identify the progress of a given subject in an organization, not necessarily educational institutions. Thus, this essay compares and contrasts evaluation and assessment in education.

An example of evaluation is a situation where you are required to develop a community event that will allow participants to contribute to their community. In the process of developing the event, you are supposed to formulate evaluation questions and strategies to account for the event. Firstly, you are supposed to observe and record who came for the community event. Secondly, you then need to capture the new initiatives that emerged during the event gathering. After half a year, you can call the key people who were in the event to interview them on how the discussed new initiatives have benefited the community. You can also find out if the new initiatives have started. An example of an assessment where the instructor runs a partner quizzes to allow students to access themselves. Additionally, to begin the examination, the teacher should pair students together then provide an open question to be handled. In the process of solving the question, the instructor should encourage the pair to offer to each other corrective feedback. The pair should identify mistakes and explain to each other how they have reached their proper solutions. After the duo has finished tackling the question, each student will then be required to handle a question with a concept related to the question they have answered. A tutor can then collect the responses and evaluate them to weigh the understanding of each member (Wylie, Bauer, Bailey, & Heritage, 2018).

The above examples clearly show the differences between assessment and evaluation. Evaluation is used to apprise the subject of choice of various human enterprises. Therefore, evaluation is a long-time and mostly done at the end of a given period. On the other hand, assessment can be done periodically to understand the progress of learner’s skills. Evaluation is used in analyzing output generally while an assessment is used to determine individual level of skills and knowledge. Both evaluation and assessment are used to identify the improvement of a past acquire subject. They all identify areas of weakness which can further be improved. Assessment can be used by the teachers to check whether the students are understanding the information or not. When the most significant percentage of a student in a class understands the delivered information, a conclusion is made that, the information is understandable. If most of the student fail the assessment, then an improvement is required on how to deliver the information. Evaluation can be used to measure the level of improvement in a class. If the mean grade of a class increases then it means that there is an improvement in understanding of the students. In case the mean grade goes down, then the improvement is needed. Both assessments aim at improving the standards of a subject. They are used in instructional design and delivery by the trainees and teachers.

An example of a formative assessment is a timed exam which students can be given a one minute question paper at the end of class to weigh their understanding of a given topic. The article can be worked on by individuals or a group of students. An example of a summative assessment is a term paper done at the end of a term. Formative assessment is used to identify the daily or periodic skills of a student. Summative assessment is used to weigh the general knowledge gained in a period (Xie, Joo, & Matusiak, 2018). Formative assessment is specific to a particular part of knowledge while summative assessment is an addition of different parts of knowledge put together. Formative assessment is a summative evaluation subset since the latter can use questions used in the formative assessment. Both formative and summative assessment is used to measure the level of understanding of students.

Formative assessment is used to give continuous progress of student’s learning. The information obtained during the formative assessment is used by the instructor to understand how best they can deliver the information. Summative evaluation is done in the learning process to understand how much a student has gained in the process of learning. Summative assessment is compared with the set standards to see if the standards are reached. Formative assessment can be used to monitor the learning progress of students while summative assessment is used to assign grades at the end of a course. The primary purpose of the formative evaluation is to improve the learning experience of students while summative evaluation is used to identify the achievements of a student (Graham, Awad, & Smeaton, 2018). The formative evaluation includes small areas while summative evaluation is done on complete content. An example of formative evaluation is where a tutor asks to explain the content of work on a topic to the audience in his words. An example of summative evaluation is where students are asked to do a test after completion of a given chapter. The test can be marked to determine how much the students understand a given chapter.

In conclusion, assessment and evaluation are essential tools for trainers and teachers. They are used to understand how information is benefiting students. Where possible, the information obtained can be used to understand how better the data can be given. Tests given during assessment and evaluation makes students are keen when they are being taught. Grading makes students very keen on undertaking their studies. Fear of defeat can make students work very hard. Trainers should have rationalized information about student’s capabilities, growth an overall development in the course of study. By providing the various test, a teacher can get a good grasp of the progress of their student’s learning process. This information can be used to improve on the way information is delivered. Apart from having information about the abilities and progress of a student, it is crucial for teachers to have proof of what students have learned during the process.

References

Berta, R., & Moreno-Ger, P. (2018). Introduction: Intelligent Learning Assessment in Serious Games. International Journal of Serious Games, 5(1).

Graham, Y., Awad, G., & Smeaton, A. (2018). Evaluation of automatic video captioning using direct assessment. PloS one, 13(9), e0202789.

Wylie, C., Bauer, M., Bailey, A. L., & Heritage, M. (2018). Formative assessment of mathematics and language: Applying companion learning progressions to reveal greater insights to teachers. In Language, Literacy, and Learning in the STEM Disciplines (pp. 143-168). Routledge.

Xie, I., Joo, S., & Matusiak, K. K. (2018). Multifaceted evaluation criteria of digital libraries in academic settings: similarities and differences from different stakeholders. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 44(6), 854-863.