Purpose of assessments

Assessments serve a dual purpose: on the one hand, they guide learning and encourage self-assessments (formative) and, on the other hand, they indicate how well a student has accomplished the goals of teaching (summative).

Qridi was originally built as a tool for formative assessment, which is apparent from the tools’ strong emphasis on self-assessments. With Qridi, teachers can give feedback to support learning and support the development of self- and peer assessment skills. Many teachers also use Qridi as a tool for summative assessments, e.g. by giving regular teacher assessments, arranging digital tests and instructing their students to document their school work in a learning journal.

What is assessed?

Assessments are always targeted at the student’s skills, which is always assessed in relation to the goals of the curriculum. The student’s self-assessments or feedback from their peers should not affect their grade. Many teachers give grades in a conventional way according to the student’s exam results and classroom activity.

However, a more diverse assessment in accordance with the specified goals yields better results.

Assessment methods

You cannot measure body temperature with a bubble level. What are the ideal indicators for the goals of the curriculum then? Typically, skills related to knowledge goals are measured with exams, tests, demonstrations, writing assignments or projects, but there are not many established methods for assessing goals related to study skills, especially when each subject has different skills. It is easy to prepare assessment questions that include the subject’s working skills goals in Qridi with which teachers can assess the students’ progress with these skills. Self-assessments are also suitable for many goals, although these should not affect the grade.

When planning goal-oriented assessments, it should be taken into account that the goals’ weighting has not been specified. The basic rule in many subjects is that half of the grade is based on goals related to working skills and half on goals related to knowledge, but schools and teachers also have the freedom to use their own understanding of which goals are more essential with regard to the assessment. According to the curriculum, teachers should also be able to indicate what their assessment is based on. Qridi compiles all assessment information on student-specific cards where the development of the student’s skills is documented in a clear manner.

Assessment tools in Qridi

Qridi provides teachers with a variety of tools to perform formative assessments and document the student’s assessment information. Qridi helps teachers make assessments regular, pleasant and an integral part of teaching work to support learning. When a student receives a poor grade from a maths exam, it is too late to offer support about fractions. If the student gets feedback in a crafts class only when they have already finished their product, it is too late to make any alterations. Studies show that the greatest impact on learning can be achieved when feedback is given about the learning process instead of the end result and when it is given during the process and not afterwards. Feedback about the student’s self-regulation is particularly effective. Qridi’s versatile feedback tools make it possible to give feedback in a wide variety of ways.

It should be ensured that no teacher is left alone with their assessment work. This is a matter that affects the entire school community. The curriculum challenges schools to plan common assessment principles and practises. For many schools, Qridi is a platform where assessments can be made uniform, diverse and open. With Qridi, assessments can be planned, systematic and goal-oriented.