Mini-cases of professional-inspired activities in e-learning platforms: An experience for the formative assessment

Abstract

The formative assessment is a strategy that allows students to be aware of the state of their learning and to establish ways to correct the identified deficiencies; at the same time, it provides information to the instructor about those issues where misunderstandings occur. In the present study, we study its application to the solving of problems in university subject of scientific field. The activity involved short extension cases, coming from professional situations combined to self-learning tasks and supported on e-learning platform (Sakai software). The methodology was designed to achieve deep learning and a continuous evaluation of the process, not only the final product. The evidences collected (student’s documents, interviews and smartphone-based surveys) informed about the impact of the presented approach. The participants positively valued the initiative against the more traditional methodologies. In conclusion, the study demonstrates that students can actively participate in the learning-oriented assessment, maintaining the guarantees of the educational process, mainly suitable for large classes, limited schedule or on-line classes.