Formative assessment for online learning: Implementing classroom strategies in the online forum

Emily Walker, Gallions Primary School, UK Feedback is a vital part of classroom practice but how does formative assessment translate to the online classroom? When providing students with feedback online, there are a number of challenges to consider: the lack of immediate, face-to-face interaction or clarification; the potential lack of structure to the format of the student’s day; and technological abilities (both student and teacher) adding another element to the learning that may not be directly related to the particular learning journey (Yen et al., 2018). Comment-only feedback With online learning, making sure that students check on their feedback can be tricky, meaning that instant, grade-based activities can seem like a better option. However, a grade alone cannot provide enough detail for the students to be able to move forward with their learning, as it doesn’t give them ways in which to overcome any difficulties that they have faced (Black et al., 2003; Hattie, 2009,