What is Authentic Assessment
What is Authentic Assessment?
The goal of authentic assessments is to evaluate a student’s ability to demonstrate understanding of core leaning objectives in a real-world context. Unlike traditional assessments, authentic assessment does not seek to measure rote learning and then require students to recall and restate the information. Instead, authentic assessment focuses on students' capacity to understand, analyze, and integrate instructional materials and apply that knowledge to real-world examples. Additionally, authentic assessments typically allow time for students to reflect on their work, and in some instances, include collaboration with cohorts. Therefore, an immediate answer to a question is not required as it would be with a timed traditional examination. These types of tasks encourage students to use higher-ordered critical thinking skills. For example, an authentic assessment in an accounting class would allow students to demonstrate their ability to solve complex problems in ways that are similar to professionals in the field of accounting. Authentic assignments can help connect students to learning outcomes.
Authentic assessments are often referred to as performance assessments (Muller, 2008). Stiggins (1987) defined performance assessments as those tasks that require students “to demonstrate specific skills and competencies, that is, to apply the skills and knowledge they have mastered” (p. 34). Simply stated, performance assessments emphasize what a student can do. Therefore, instructors have an opportunity to evaluate what students have learned by evaluating students’ demonstration of specific skills and abilities.
The table below distinguishes authentic assessments from traditional assessments and highlights some of their benefits. As you review the two columns, reflect on the assessments in your online course.
| Authentic Assessment | Low-Impact / Traditional Assessment |
| Requires students to do something to demonstrate knowledge skills | Requires students to respond to a question to demonstrate knowledge and skills. |
| Fosters active learning | Fosters passive learning |
| Requires students to contextualize and apply what they have learned | Asks students about what they have learned out of context and tends to encourage rote memorization |
| Achieves deep learning, which is more likely to transform stduents' views and be remembered | Achieves shallow learning that is less likely to be retained over long periods of time |
| Inspires students to make connections between course content and the real-world | Generally keeps learning confined to a book or other academic context |
Some additional benefits of authentic assessments include:
- Reducing the ease of “finding the right answer” -- a common problem, especially in online courses
- Reducing the tendency of “cramming” the night before an exam
- Providing opportunities for “Non Disposable Assignments,” which students can take with them and use or share after the end of your course
- Introducing variety into a students’ learning, increasing interest and engagement
- Incorporating opportunities to support the variable interests, levels, and needs of learners
What are some myths about authentic assessment?
| Myth | Reality |
| Authentic assessments don’t work for my discipline. | Authentic assessments can be developed for any discipline. It is human nature to teach the way we were taught. Disciplines and departments also have their own cultures of assessment that create fixed mindsets about how student learning can be measured. These factors can influence how faculty think about authentic assessments, but they can work in any discipline. |
| Authentic assessments involve big, complex projects. | Authentic assessments can involve complex projects, they can also involve simpler tasks, as well. |
| All authentic assessments are summative in nature (they measure learning that has occurred). | Authentic assessments can be used as formative assessments too, providing students with progress checks about their learning. |
| I teach online. I need to use quizzes and exams for assessments. | Regardless of the modality of your course, authentic assessments provide valuable opportunities for students to develop skills they will use in the real world. |
Why move towards Authentic Assessment?
Examinations, or traditional unit tests, mid-terms, or final exams, are arguably the most common type of summative assessments. These tests typically include multiple-choice, true/false, and short answer questions that can be directly linked to student learning objectives. They test how well a student can recall and communicate course content and provide instructors with a snapshot of student learning. An advantage of traditional exams is that they are typically easy to develop, administer and grade. Additionally, summative data can be easily analyzed and student scores can be easily compared.
So, traditional tests have limitations. While they provide rich data related to the recollection of course content, they are also more likely to measure superficial knowledge and lower-level thinking skills. And, there are other drawbacks to consider. Traditional tests often raise feelings of anxiety severe enough to negatively impact student performance (Kulm, 1994). Therefore, when a course assessment plan consists solely of examinations, it could be detrimental to students’ grades, and the data may inaccurately reflect the teaching and learning, ultimately providing little value for improving future courses.
Many instructors have become dissatisfied using traditional assessment methods (e.g., testing) as the sole means of evaluation in their courses. The main argument is that traditional assessments do not assess a variety of skills and abilities that students need to be successful beyond the classroom. Educators contend that students must be prepared to do more than memorize information. Instead, the focus should be on encouraging students to practice higher-order thinking skills to solve real-world problems. Unfortunately, traditional tests do not typically measure these more advanced skills. As a result, there has been a movement from traditional assessment to alternative methods of assessments (Dietel, Herman, and Knuth, 1991) which require students to demonstrate the skills and concepts they have learned (Stiggins, 1987).
Links
Additional Readings
- Equity and Assessment: Moving towards Culturally Responsive Assessment. National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA)
- A New Decade for Assessment: Embedding Equity into Assessment Praxis. National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA).
- Authentic Learning. University of Minnesota.
- Authentic Assessment from the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning at Indiana University Bloomington
Attributions
Content on these pages is adapted from
