The assessment of learning and teaching can be viewed as two complementary and overlapping activities that aim to benefit both the quality of student learning and the professional development of the instructor. Assessing learning alone is not sufficient because the ultimate success of students is also dependent upon their motivation and commitment to learning. Similarly, assessing only teaching behaviors and course activities is not sufficient because qualities of the instructor may be appreciated by students but not optimally helpful to their learning and growth. Done in tandem, assessing teaching and learning can help instructors improve and refine their teaching practices and help improve students’ learning and performance.

There are three terminologies that we keep on using in the field of educational evaluation and those are: test, measurement & evaluation. However, they are not synonymous and have specific meaning.

Test is a device to obtain quantitative data. Measurement is an act of assigning numerical index on data obtained by test, observation or any other devices. Whereas, assessment refers to the process of obtaining information about a learner’s learning, progress and achievement.

Evaluation is a inclusive term. This includes all the three: test, measurement and assessment. Evaluation as a process can be categorized into: formative and summative. Formative evaluation is concerned with identifying learner weaknesses with a view to help the learner to overcome the same. This should be performed on regular interval of the course. Summative evaluation, as the term suggests, it is evaluation at the end of a course.

In distance education, both formative and summative evaluations