Authentic assessment: creating a blueprint for course design

Abstract

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Aligning assessment with the needs of work-integrated learning: the challenges of authentic assessment in a complex context

“…Several authors have written on dimensions of assessment authenticity (see Gulikers, Bastiaens & Kirschner, 2004;Ashford-Rowe et al, 2014;Villarroel, Bloxham, Bruna, Bruna & Herrera-Seda, 2018). First, authentic assessment should require students to carry out activities that reflect actual practices of a profession within or in similar physical and social contexts of that profession (Gulikers et al, 2004;Swan & Hofer, 2013;Bosco & Ferns, 2014).…”

“…For performance-based assessment tasks, students are required to produce or demonstrate knowledge and skills in activities close to the profession. In written assessment, it could include case analysis, problem-solving and essay questions, which act as a proxy of the real world (Villarroel et al, 2018).…”

“…Second, authentic assessment should be cognitively challenging (Ashford-Rowe et al, 2014). It should stimulate students to engage in solving actual problems, applying knowledge and making decisions, which is conducive to the development of cognitive and metacognitive skills (Elliott & Higgins, 2005;Villarroel et al, 2018). Authentic assessment should drive students to 'establish the relationships between new ideas and previous knowledge, linking theoretical concepts with everyday experience, deriving conclusions from the analysis of data, allowing them to examine both the logic of the arguments present in the theory, as well as its practical scope' (Villarroel et al, 2018, p. 485).…”

“…Fourth, authentic assessment should promote students' capabilities to judge the quality of their work. Assessment activities should encourage students to engage with criteria and standards about what a good performance means, judge their own performance and thereby regulate their learning (Tai, Ajjawi, Boud, Dawson & Panadero, 2018;Villarroel et al, 2018). Evaluative judgement is important for learning because it helps students to identify areas that need improvement, track their progress over time, and develop insights into acceptable standards of quality performance in their future profession (Sadler, 2005;Boud & Falchikov, 2006;Boud & Soler, 2016).…”

Using Policy Briefs as Assessment to Integrating Research-Led Employability in Foreign Policy Courses

“…There is a focus on ensuring assessment tasks are "authentic" i.e. they 'replicate the tasks and performance standards typically found in the world of work' (Villarroel et a 2018) thereby 'requiring students to use the same competencies, or combinations of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that they need to apply in the criterion situation in professional life' (Gulikers, Bastiaens, and Kirschner 2004: 69). Aside from the preparation for work, Villarroel et al's study highlighted that authentic assessment has been found to have a positive impact on student learning, autonomy, motivation, self-regulation and metacognition; abilities highly related to employability, whilst Lincoln and Casidy (2018) found that authentic assessments were positively related to student satisfaction and promoting behaviour.…”