How Diagnostic Assessments Can Foster Positive Learning in Higher Ed

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Diagnostic assessments are used to evaluate what students already know about a specific topic or subject. These assessments also help educators avoid assumptions about what their students already know so they can create lesson plans that are tailored to students' needs.

Most often, instructors use diagnostic assessments both before their class starts and after it ends. By giving students the same assessment before and after instruction, it’s easier to measure their learning progress.

However, crafting effective diagnostic assessments that encourage students to put thought and effort into their answers is an art unto itself. Let’s dive into the details of this educational tool as well as how to easily craft engaging diagnostic assessments with Poll Everywhere.

What are diagnostic assessments?

Diagnostic assessments provide a systematic way to evaluate a student’s understanding of a specific topic. They can also be used to gauge students’ feelings about controversial topics so instructors can adapt course materials and their teaching approach as needed.

Most often, a diagnostic assessment consists of multiple choice or short answer questions, but can also take other forms such as discussions, surveys, and word clouds. However they’re designed, though, these assessments do not count toward a final grade.

For example, a class on psychology may use a student survey or word cloud to assess how students feel about potentially controversial questions or views. In a chemistry class, a multiple choice or short answer format might be used to see whether students understand equations and concepts the class builds upon.

By assessing abilities before the course begins, instructors gain a better understanding of their students’ skills and knowledge. By assessing students after the course concludes, instructors can see whether their instruction successfully built upon those pre-existing skills and knowledge.

Formative vs. summative vs. diagnostic assessments

To fully understand their role in education, it’s important to distinguish diagnostic assessments from formative assessments.

  • Diagnostic assessments occur before and after the course and gauge students’ highest level of learning related to the topic.
  • Formative assessments are used during a course to check whether students mastered a skill or understood a concept.
  • Summative assessments are a third type of assessment that occurs during or after instruction and are used to judge how a particular student is performing compared to other students.

Did you know? Poll Everywhere helps educators conduct formative assessments as well as diagnostic assessments. Find out how Dr. Max Dolinsky, an assistant professor of Finance at the University of Delaware, uses Poll Everywhere to gamify knowledge checks during class.

Examples of diagnostic assessments

In education, diagnostic assessments can take many forms depending on the topic being assessed and an instructor’s preferences.

For example, the following are different ways educators might conduct a diagnostic assessment in their classroom:

  • A multiple-choice or short-answer quiz to assess fundamental knowledge
  • A discussion to understand students’ assumptions or emotions regarding the course topic
  • A conceptual inventory that identifies potential misconceptions about fundamental knowledge

4 benefits of diagnostic assessments

Diagnostic assessments offer multiple benefits to both instructors and students. These include personalized learning, early intervention, improved decision-making, and data-driven insights.

1. Personalized learning

Conducting a diagnostic assessment before the semester begins can help instructors tailor their teaching methods to student needs. These needs can be skills-related or even ideological if a course covers potentially controversial topics.

Additionally, a diagnostic assessment may help you pinpoint learning preferences among your students, such as whether they prefer to use online resources or would rather attend class in person, as noted in a 2021 study published in Language Testing in Asia.

At the end of a course, your diagnostic assessment can shed light on which teaching methods were most effective. This can help you adjust your course materials or lesson plans for future classes.

Learn more: Checking in on engagement can provide additional details on whether your class setup and content are effective. Here’s how to effectively monitor student engagement in your classroom.

2. Early intervention

By evaluating students before your course starts, you might be able to intervene early if anyone lacks the core knowledge they’ll need to succeed. A diagnostic assessment can also help you more effectively problem-solve any potential challenges students might face during the semester.

A study published in the June 2023 edition of the Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Accountability journal also pointed out that diagnostic assessments conducted in a student’s first year can help identify whether or not they’re in “disadvantaged” situations. The institution can then use this data to intervene and promote these students’ chances of success—and possibly reduce dropout rates as well.

3. Improved decision-making

Diagnostic test results provide essential data to help educators make informed decisions regarding lesson plans. Additionally, diagnostic assessments may provide data for administrators or committees to update curriculum or graduation requirements if trends are spotted—or allocate more resources to departments if needed.

4. Data-driven insights

The key behind diagnostic assessments is that they provide clear data regarding how students’ abilities and preferences change over time. By using data rather than speculation or assumptions to personalize classes and instruction, educators are more likely to continuously improve the outcomes of their courses.

Challenges of diagnostic assessments

While a diagnostic assessment offers multiple benefits, it may also present challenges. Considering these ahead of time can help instructors preemptively plan for potential roadblocks. These challenges can include the following:

  • Potential bias: When collecting data, bias should always be a concern as it can falsely skew results. It’s necessary to use strategies and approaches that reduce the chance bias can influence diagnostic assessment results.
  • Ethical considerations: Assessments have been used in the past to disqualify certain groups, such as literacy tests being a requirement to vote until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
  • Data security and privacy: As with any tool that gathers students’ personal information, data security is a primary concern. With diagnostic assessments, this may fall into the realm of data potentially being used against a student or sensitive information becoming compromised through a data breach.
  • Cost: As always, cost is a major concern, especially for institutions and departments that are already strapped for cash. It may be more feasible to utilize existing solutions to conduct diagnostic assessments or choose tools that can be used in a variety of learning situations.
  • Tools required for implementation: Speaking of tools, these may require a learning curve for both students and teachers. Hybrid and online classes especially may find the need for technical know-how to set up assessment tech to be too large of an obstacle.

How to create effective diagnostic assessments

When creating a diagnostic assessment for your class, it’s important to not only keep the above challenges in mind but also your goals and additional steps in the process.

  • Set clear goals: Define what you’re trying to measure and how the assessment can best support your goals.
  • Choose data collection methods: Identify what type of assessment best serves your goals and is also approachable for students, such as polls, quizzes, or projects.
  • Ensure data is interpreted correctly: Make sure you know how to analyze and interpret your data. It’s also a good idea to seek ways to remove potential bias during analysis.
  • Create actionable next steps: Don’t let that data go to waste—use it to plan updates to your course material or customize your lesson plan.

How to implement your diagnostic assessments

Ready to put your diagnostic assessments into action? Here are the steps to effectively use them in your classroom.

  1. Define the purpose and scope: Create goals for your assessment and define what you want to achieve and how the assessment will help you reach those goals.
  2. Select the right assessment tools: Determine which tools you need to both conduct the assessment and analyze the data. Tools like Poll Everywhere not only help you assess your students and study the data collected from surveys, Q&As, and other activities, but they can also be used for other classroom interactions and often include additional features to help you create engaging assessments.
  3. Start your assessment: Be sure to share clear guidelines for students on how they need to complete the assessment and submit it, as well as any other important details they should know.
  4. Analyze your data: Once you’ve collected your assessments and data, it’s time to dig in to identify patterns and draw meaningful conclusions.
  5. Create an action plan: After you’ve pinpointed data-based patterns and made conclusions, use those to develop actionable strategies to improve your course material or customize it to student needs.
  6. Monitor progress: The cycle of continuous improvement never ends, so be sure to use tools like Poll Everywhere to check in on student understanding and adjust as necessary.

Poll Everywhere is an engaging way to assess students’ pre-course knowledge

A versatile tool, Poll Everywhere allows instructors to create multiple-choice surveys, quick polls, and quizzes, as well as accept questions during lectures and conduct multiple other activities. These engaging approaches to assessments can help you get a better idea of how well your students understand the foundations your class builds upon—as well as how much they learned once your class is complete.

Using the data collected by Poll Everywhere, educators can quickly and easily analyze the information and create strategies to continuously improve the learning experience for their students. Here’s everything you need to know about using Poll Everywhere to engage students with interactive assessments and presentations.