CDLA · Module 3 — Outcomes and authentic assessment

Formative practice vs. summative gates

Low-stakes checks teach; high-stakes gates certify. Do not make every screen a scored exam.

About 15 min

Practice in the lesson player

Sorting, matching, quizzes, and the module gate stay behind a free account so scored answers are not public. The teaching notes below are the same cited curriculum.

What this lesson covers

  1. 01

    Two different jobs

    Formative assessment gives feedback during learning — retries welcome, hints allowed, no certificate attached. Summative assessment (your module gate) decides whether to issue a credential. Mixing them confuses learners and inflates extraneous load when every quiz feels high-stakes.

  2. 02

    Formative patterns in digital courses

    Try again with feedback: Wrong branch explains why, then lets retry.

    Hints before score: First attempt is practice; gate is separate.

    Retrieval without grade: Flash recap — Roediger-style — no LMS penalty.