What is Formative Assessment?

Formative assessment is the monitoring of student learning through "low-stakes" assessments, with the goal of providing the following benefits:

For learners (Nicol and McFarlane-Dick, 2006):

1. providing students with the tools to become self-regulated learners,

2. reducing uncertainty about their own (student's) performance,

3. helping correct misconceptions or inappropriate strategies

4. increasing motivation and efficiency in learning

For instructors:

1. identifying barriers to learning,

2. providing evidence of current level of learning,

3. allowing adjustment of instruction to fit the current level of learning.

The extensive use of formative assessment tools is regarded by many as best practice in the K-12 sector. Formative assessment is hard work, though, in its preparation and delivery. Beatty and Gerace (2009) make a strong case for the need for Technology-Enhanced Formative Assessement, and sound pedagogy to support it.

The majority of global education funding is allocated to labour costs and physical plants. According to a report by Holon IQ (2019), only 2.5% of global education spending is directed to digital technology, with a projected growth to 4.3% by 2015. That 4.3% is $260 billion, however. During the current pandemic, this spending share can be expected to accelerate.

Technology-Enhanced Formative Assessment is a crowded sector, with several established competitors like Kahoot!, Socrative, and Nearpod. Formative is designed by teachers, for teachers, to fill teachers' needs in the classroom, and differentiates itself from others by its flexibility; it can provide quick in-class checks on comprehension and exit slips, it can provide online tutorial quizzing, it can be used to assess deeper learning, and it can be accessed on a variety of platforms and devices. More importantly for investors, it has been very successful so far, without marketing itself to the higher-ed or corporate training sectors.