What is it?
Authentic assessment is one of the key elements in the design of authentic learning materials and environments. It differs from other forms of assessment such as essays or examinations because it seeks to measure a student’s capacity to negotiate the ill-structured nature of authentic contexts. Authentic assessments, therefore, complement authentic learning activities by providing tasks that help to promote higher-order skills and competencies in preparation for real-world practice.
Why use it?
Authentic assessment integrates teaching, learning and assessment and it is important to ensure that the authenticity that you have developed in your authentic tasks are matched by appropriate formative or summative assessment tasks. Therefore, if you have developed a set of authentic learning tasks you should ensure that your assessment tasks are designed to measure how well students can address the unpredictable, contingent and ill-structured nature of real-world contexts.
How do I do it?
You should consider the following factors in the design of your assessment activity:
- Real-world tasks. Ensure that the task matches the kinds of problems that are faced by professionals in real-world contexts. As with the design of authentic learning tasks, there needs to be an appropriate level of ‘cognitive realism’ associated with the task.
- Time. The assessment task should take time (unless it is a formative assessment that gauges student progress). Students need time to gather appropriate material, collaborate with peers and reflect on the learning process.
- Multiple perspectives. Ensure that the parameters of the task are broad enough to allow students to examine the problem from multiple perspectives and this might include different theoretical perspectives or even how the problem might be viewed from different disciplinary contexts.
- Collaboration. In real-world contexts, team work is central to the development of a product or process. Ensure that collaborative processes are built into the design of the task. The task should also be designed to encourage students to take different roles as they undertake the assessment.
An example – application of theory to practice
In this example , educational psychology students are concurrently enrolled in a fieldwork unit in which they are required to observe primary school students. In the formative assessments, one part of the student cohort posts up observations of classroom activity and the other section of the cohort responds to student observations using the theories that they have encountered in their theory unit. Throughout the course, students are also provided with detailed modelling about how to connect observations and theories. Summative assessments build on this and are designed to measure how well students are able to apply theories in real-world contexts.
The University of New South Wales have produced a series of videos that illustrate various aspects of authentic assessment from learning design through to the challenges of incorporating authentic assessments in your unit.
This resource from the University of Illinois provides a range of practical strategies for the design of authentic assessments. The University of Melbourne has also developed a useful guide for the development of authentic assessments.
Suggested tools
There is a variety of tools that can be used to implement authentic assessments.
- Discussion forums in Western Sydney University’s LMS called vUWS
- vUWS tools to display images, video, audio and text
- If there is a reflective component to the task, consider using the journal tool in vUWS
- Portfolio-based tools
Considerations
Designing authentic assessments can be complex and time-consuming and this can result in productive learning experiences for your students. Authentic assessments, however, can also be simple. Consider, for example, introducing formative assessments that measure how students might address real-world problems or designing low-stakes assessment items throughout your unit that help to scaffold students towards undertaking a high-stakes authentic assessment.
