Digest #175: Authentic Assessments
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The idea of authentic assessments has been around for over 30 years now. In 1990, Grant Wiggins coined the term ‘authentic assessment’ (1) and in recent years this assessment approach has received a considerable boost. The pandemic as well as the rise of AI in education have required educators to explore more innovative ways to assess knowledge and skills in their students. Specifically, there is a call for assessments for learning – the idea that students need to apply their knowledge and skills to complete an assessment which, in turn, leads to increases in their knowledge and skills. There are many definitions and approaches to authentic assessment and so today’s digest provides an overview of the concept with examples.
1. The Case for Authentic Assessment by Grant Wiggins, Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation
We’ll start with the original article by Wiggins on authentic assessments. It’s a quick read that provides an overview of the idea.
2. Authentic Assessment by Kim H. Koh, Oxford Research Encyclopedias - Education
Following up from the first resource, this article provides a more contemporary take on authentic assessments. It outlines the criteria for authenticity of assessments and highlights that for authentic assessments to work students need prior knowledge that they then apply. Thus, authentic assessments are no substitute for acquiring knowledge and basic skills in the first place. They are a way to elaborate and apply knowledge and skills.
3. A Step-By-Step Guide To Designing More Authentic Assessments by Sally Brown & Kay Sambell, Heriot-Watt University, UK
This is an excellent resource that provides – as the name suggests – step-by-step instructions on how to create authentic assessments. Plenty of concrete examples are offered to make the different steps in the design process graspable.
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4. “Partnering with industry for authentic experiences and assessment” by Richard Bowater, Sarah Rayment, & Michael Loughlin, Times Higher Education
An article that specifically focuses on how assessments can be designed in collaboration with industry partners. Adding such real-world elements where students’ work has immediate impact on partners outside of the educational sector are incredibly rewarding and another example of authentic assessment.
5. “Explore examples of authentic assessment” by University of Sussex, UK
If you are looking for more examples of authentic assessment, this is a great resource. The examples mentioned here can spark new ideas that fit your teaching practice and learning outcomes for your students.
6. “Designing Authentic Assessment” by University of Reading, UK
Finally, I did not want to withhold this final resource as I found it useful because it offers more examples and many links to further resources that can support the design of authentic assessments.
Reference:
(1) Wiggins, G., (1990) “The Case for Authentic Assessment”, Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation 2(1): 2. doi: https://doi.org/10.7275/ffb1-mm19
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