Adaptive Vocabulary
Defining Formative and Summative Assessment
Formative Assessment
Summative Assessment
 “Practice” for students to master content perpetually through their course work to remediate, self-assess, and aid the
learning process to leading up to their summative assessments
 Examples: Prep U, Elsevier’s Adaptive Quizzing product, HESI practice tests, etc.
 Assessing learning as it relates to content mastery these are given sporadically through a student’s educational career and
they are used to evaluate the effectiveness of a program, boards, course exams, etc.
 Examples: NCLEX®, HESI Specialty HESI Exit Exam, unit exams, etc.
Adaptive: What is it?
Computer Adaptive
Testing (CAT)
Adaptive learning
Adaptive quizzing
 A method of administering exams that merge computer technology with modern measurement theory to increase
efficiency of the exam process.
 Every time you answer an item, the computer re-estimates your ability based on all the previous answers and the difficulty
of those items.
 The computer then selects the next item that you should have a 50% chance of answering correctly.
o This way, the next item should not be too easy or too hard
o The computer’s goal is to get as much information as possible about your true ability level
o You should find each item challenging as each item is targeted to your ability
 With each item answered, the computer’s estimate of your ability becomes more precise.
 Uses an adaptive engine to customize the presentation of educational material according to a student’s needs based on
test or quiz feedback.
 Practice product where the questions for each quiz are chosen for a student based on his/her performance on a previous
quiz (i.e., PrepU).
 Does not necessarily reflect “real” adaptivity but rather a closed-loop system by which student progresses at his/her own
rate along an established and linear learning path.
Adaptive: How’s it different for everyone?
NCLEX (NCSBN)
Summative Assessment
 Administered using Computer Adaptive Testing
 Reduces the number of “easy” items that high-ability candidates receive; “easy” items tell little about a high performing
candidate’s ability
 Reduces the number of “difficult” items low-ability candidates receive; candidates tend to guess on items that are too
difficult which can skew results
 Reduces item exposure and subsequent security risks
 Improves precision of measurement of the NCLEX candidates ability related to nursing and
 Provides a valid and reliable measurement of nursing competence
Elsevier’s Adaptive
Quizzing Product Formative Assessment
PrepU (LWW) Formative Assessment
Readypoint Nursing
(Pearson) Formative & Summative
Assessment
 Adaptive Quizzing and Learning
 Targeted, multimodal quizzing and remediation including robust reporting
 Provides students with a comprehensive diagnosis of strengths and weaknesses.
 Includes robust feedback that often includes benchmark information (mastery level; badges, etc) and normative data.
 Gives students an individualized/personalized study plan.
 Students can be directed to remedial content which can be as simple as answers and rationales to missed questions or as
complex as a “customized” version of chapter content.
 Continually adapts to student needs.
 Feeds students questions, quizzes, or content based on the outcomes of assessments.
 In its purist form, represents a true personalized learning path whereby real-time student data is used to provide and finetune recommendations for remedial content/quizzing.
 Adaptive Quizzing, Formative
 Streamlines the study and learning process through customized adaptive learning experiences tailored to each user's
knowledge level. Students identify where they need to spend more study time; instructors get real time data for
maximizing class performance.
 Uses an adaptive quizzing engine, but is adaptive by quiz not question.
 Adaptive Learning & Formative Assessment
 “The first program to fully integrate learning (adaptive) with assessment (testing)”.
 Formative - Re-tooled MyNursingLab engages students on must-know topics with its guided learning path. Students take a
pre-test mapped to learning outcomes, which then helps to create a prioritized study plan for each student.
 Summative – Proctored Exams (testing) – in development.