Assessment Types and Methods
Common forms & designs
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Single-use assessments
Quizzes, Tests, and Exams are used to measure a student’s understanding of course content, typically focusing on knowledge recall, comprehension, and the application of key concepts. These assessments are particularly effective for evaluating foundational learning and ensuring that students are keeping pace with the course material. They can be administered at various points throughout a course—formatively to check ongoing understanding, or summatively to evaluate cumulative knowledge at the end of a unit or term.
Instructors may choose from a variety of formats depending on the learning outcomes they wish to assess. When thinking of alignment with learning outcomes, quizzes, tests, and exams are most commonly associated with cognitive aspects of learning: recall, analysis, synthesis, identifying sequences and procedures, and describing processes. They are less effective for assessments demanding creative problem-solving, emotional resilience, building character and community, and demonstrating more in-depth, complex and nuanced knowledge.
Common formats include:
- multiple-choice questions, which are useful for testing broad content knowledge efficiently;
- true/false and matching questions, which are ideal for assessing recognition and recall; and
- short-answer or fill-in-the-blank questions, which require students to generate responses.
More advanced tests may include problem-solving or scenario-based questions that assess application and analysis skills. Your tests should also align with whatever learning activities you have already conducted throughout your class so that both the content and the format are not met by surprise at the end of a class.
When designing quizzes and tests, it’s important to ensure alignment with course learning outcomes, maintain clarity in question wording, and provide a balanced level of difficulty. These assessments should also be clearly described in the course syllabus, including their frequency, format, and contribution to the final grade.
There are two main weaknesses of using quizzes and tests as assessment tools. First, they often emphasize rote memorization and surface-level understanding rather than deeper learning. While they are efficient for assessing factual knowledge and basic comprehension, they may not effectively measure higher-order thinking skills such as critical analysis, synthesis, creativity, or real-world application—especially if the questions are limited to multiple-choice or true/false formats. Second, they are often overused or used exclusively for assessment purposes when variety would enhance the learning experience and guarantee a more accurate understanding of student learning progress.
Written Assignments allow students to demonstrate their understanding through structured, reflective, or research-based writing. These assignments can take many forms, including essays, reports, case studies, reflective journals, or research papers. They are particularly effective for assessing higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and the ability to construct and communicate arguments clearly.
Written assignments are best used when the goal is to evaluate a student’s depth of understanding, critical thinking, and ability to apply concepts to real-world or theoretical scenarios. They also provide insight into a student’s writing proficiency, organization, and ability to engage with academic or professional sources.
This type of assessment supports academic integrity and independent learning, as students must generate original work and often engage in research or reflection. However, to be effective, written assignments must be clearly structured with defined expectations, including criteria for content, format, length, and referencing. Rubrics are especially helpful in ensuring transparency and consistency in grading, particularly when the assessment requires the instructor’s judgment and subjective perceptions.
Of course, recently, the effectiveness of written assignments has been compromised by the use of AI, resulting in automatically generated responses rather than from the intellect of the learners themselves. (See below for some further ideas on how to work with AI in terms of assessment design.)
In course syllabi, instructors should specify the type of written assignment, its purpose, due dates, and how it contributes to the final grade. Consequences for not meeting the expectations of the assignment need to be made clear to learners.
Presentations are often seen as companion pieces to written assignments, with a slight but critical difference in what is being assessed. Presentations allow students to demonstrate their understanding, communication skills, and ability to engage an audience. They can take the form of individual or group presentations, live or recorded, and may include visual aids such as slides, videos, or demonstrations. Presentations are particularly effective for assessing a student’s ability to synthesize information, organize ideas logically, and convey key messages clearly and confidently.
As concerns grow around the use of AI to generate written assignments, presentations offer a valuable alternative that emphasizes authentic, real-time demonstration of learning. They require students to internalize content, think critically, and respond to questions or feedback—skills that are difficult to outsource or automate. Presentations also support the development of transferable skills such as public speaking, collaboration, and digital literacy.
Multi-faceted assessments
Projects and Portfolios offer the possibility for students to demonstrate knowledge, skills, and competencies over time. Unlike shorter or more narrowly focused assessments, these methods require students to engage deeply with course content, apply learning in meaningful contexts, and reflect on their development.
A project typically involves solving a complex problem, designing a product, or conducting a sustained inquiry. It often spans multiple weeks and encourages students to draw on various sources, collaborate with others, and manage their own learning process. A portfolio is a curated collection of a student’s work that showcases growth, achievement, and reflection across a course or program. It provides a broader view of learning by capturing multiple dimensions of performance, including drafts, feedback, revisions, and final products. More recently, portfolios are available in digital formats known as e-portfolios and can be a convenient method for students to track and reflect on their own learning progress.
These assessments are particularly valuable in disciplines that emphasize applied learning, creativity, and professional practice. They support the development of transferable skills such as critical thinking, time management, and self-assessment. They are commonly utilized in capstone courses as a comprehensive assessment.
Given growing concerns about AI-generated content, projects and portfolios offer a more authentic and personalized alternative to traditional written assignments. They require original, process-based work that is difficult to replicate using AI tools, making them a strong choice for maintaining academic integrity.
Field or Clinical Assessments evaluate student performance in real-world, practice-based settings. These assessments take place during work-integrated learning experiences, such as clinical placements, internships, practicums, or community-engaged learning activities. They are especially critical in disciplines like paramedicine, law enforcement, emergency management, counselling, and corrections, where students must demonstrate competence in authentic environments.
These assessments assess not only technical skills but also professional behaviour, ethical decision-making, communication, and the ability to adapt to complex, unpredictable situations. They provide a holistic view of learner readiness for professional practice and are often conducted in collaboration with workplace supervisors, preceptors, or community partners, demonstrating the layers of support available to learners. They help students build confidence, develop professional identity, and prepare for the realities of their chosen field.
Other forms of assessment
Participation and Attendance are often used in courses to help determine a final grade or standing in a course, though they are significantly different than any kind of assessment.
Nonetheless, participation and attendance recognize the value of student engagement and presence in the learning environment. While often considered supplementary, they play a meaningful role in supporting active learning, collaboration, and professional behaviour—especially in courses that rely on discussion, group work, or experiential activities.
Participation assesses how students contribute to class discussions, engage with peers, ask questions, and demonstrate preparedness. It encourages consistent involvement and helps build a learning community. Attendance, when used as an assessment criterion, reflects the importance of being present for learning experiences that cannot be easily replicated, such as live demonstrations, simulations, or field activities.
In applied and public safety programs, where teamwork, communication, and reliability are essential professional traits, participation and attendance can serve as indicators of readiness for practice. However, these components must be clearly defined in the course outline, including how they are measured and weighted. Criteria should be transparent—such as frequency of contributions, quality of engagement, or punctuality—and applied consistently.
When used thoughtfully, participation and attendance support accountability, encourage engagement, and reinforce the professional expectations students will encounter in their future careers. When tied deliberately to learning outcomes, participation can also demonstrate how it is a necessary assessment criterion in a course or program.
Peer Feedback and Collaboration are assessment strategies that emphasize the importance of interpersonal skills, teamwork, and reflective learning. These methods are particularly valuable in courses that involve group projects, discussions, or practice-based learning, where students must work together to achieve shared goals.
- Collaboration assesses how effectively students contribute to group tasks, communicate with peers, share responsibilities, and support collective learning. This type of work encourages accountability, fosters mutual respect, and mirrors the collaborative environments students will encounter in professional settings—especially in fields like emergency services, counselling, and conflict resolution, where teamwork is essential. When thinking about learning outcomes, you can see how collaborative assessments go well beyond the basic cognitive functions of recall, identifying and describing to more complex behaviours.
- Peer feedback involves students evaluating each other’s contributions or performance using structured criteria. This process helps students develop critical thinking, self-awareness, and the ability to give and receive constructive input. It also deepens learning by encouraging students to reflect on quality, standards, and improvement. Like collaboration, this involves higher order thinking and communicating and must be carefully designed so as not to dismissed as easy marks or favours from one student to the next. Rubrics can be very helpful to provide guidance for students as they provide evaluative feedback and commentary.