ABSTRACT
Student assessment comprises an essential part of his or her education and professional training, especially in the health professions. Fundamental concepts on student assessment and their implications in school routinely practice has been evolving rapidly in recent times. Much of these changes are consequences of the increased utilization of teaching and learning strategies mediated by information and communication technology (distance education and online learning), which has been more recently accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. An important aspect of these changes implies in greater recognition of the educational power and effectiveness of formative assessment, carried out by frequent, high-quality feedback to students on their learning achievements, following appropriate technical recommendations. In this article, we present some basic concepts of educational evaluation and student assessment and discuss the strategic role of formative assessment and the power of feedback. We also describe some of the characteristics of effective feedback and the corresponding recommendations, and present suggestions on possible effective ways to practice student assessment in the context of remote teaching and distance education, with an emphasis on the formative purpose, but not disregarding summative assessment leading to pass or fail decision-making.