Click on each item below to reveal how scaffolded assessments benefit on each category.
Student Engagement
Scaffolded assessments increase student engagement as students tend to be strategic and only spend time and effort on tasks which are credit-bearing, (Agnew, Kerr & Watt, 2021; Gonzalez et al., 2015; Holmes, 2017; Shrivastava & Shrivastava, 2022)
Ice Breaker
Scaffolded assessments break the ice in terms of the students submitting something and introduces the processes relating to assessment submission and receiving feedback (Thomas et al., 2019).
Feedback
- Scaffolded assessments offer an early opportunity for individual and group feedback to students and for them to test knowledge and understanding in a continuous way (McNaught & Benson, 2015)
- These assessments provide feedback to tutors in terms of any misunderstandings or academic skills issues which can be rectified early (Bjaelde et al., 2017; Thomas et al., 2019).
Academic Integrity
- Scaffolded assessments can lead to fewer academic integrity issues as tutor can see the standard of submissions in progress, and assess the process rather than just the product.
- Having several stages to the summative assessment also helps prevents academic integrity issues rising (Bjelobaba, 2021)
Less Burden
These assessments can reduce the burden of all the marks falling in one assessment at the end of term and prevent the bunching of assessments in this way (Lopez-Tocon, 2021).
More Inclusive
- Scaffolded assessments can be made up of different assessment types to make them more inclusive and not biased to students strong in one type of assessment such as exams or essays. This can also lead to the development of employability skills, (Sotiriadou et al,. 2020).
- Frequent low-stakes assessment builds confidence in students, increases motivation and creates dialogue (Abraham & Jones, 2016; Warnock, 2013).
For full references, follow this link to the Literature page.