Learning Activity @ CUHK

Authentic assessment

Background information about authentic assessment

Authentic assessment

Description

Authentic assessment is a practical approach to examining student performance that ensures students are capable of applying their knowledge to real-life problems. According to Gulikers, Bastiaens and Kirschner (2004), authentic assessment requires students to use the same competencies, or combinations of knowledge, skills and attitudes, that they would need to use when performing the same task in real life.

Implementation

To run authentic assessments, you might need to:

Identifywhat you would like your students to know. List the concepts, skills, applications, attitudes and beliefs that you wish students to acquire when planning the curriculum.
Use self-assessment as a first step to understanding students’ needs.By using self-assessment, teachers are able to understand students’ strengths and weakness and students are able to identify areas for improvement.
Provide real-life situations(Darling-Hammond & Snyder, 2000). For example, if teachers aim to teach their students about conducting banking transactions, the relevant authentic task should demonstrate the process of making deposits, withdrawals or cashing cheques at a bank.
Integrate knowledge and skills.Integration of knowledge and application ensures that students develop appropriate skills, such as critical thinking (Darling-Hammond & Snyder, 2000; Darling-Hammond et al., 1998).
Adopt an appropriate assessment format(Reeves & Okey, 1996; Young, 1995). Teachers may adopt different forms of authentic assessment, including demonstration of competencies, quizzes, reports and group projects. The method of assessment can be flexible. Nevertheless, teachers should ensure that the content is consistent with the needs of real world practices.
Design effective criteria that serve as indicators of student performance.The criteria for assessment should be observable, clear and fulfill the teaching objectives.

Extended readings

Read more about authentic assessment on the papers and/or websites below:

Authentic assessment. (n.d.) Institute of Teaching and Learning (ITL) Website from Deakin University. Teachers can click on the link below for more information:
http://www.deakin.edu.au/itl/assets/resources/pd/tl-modules/assessment/authenticassessment.pdf

Cumming, J. J., & Maxwell, J. S. (1999). Contextualising authentic assessment. Assessment in Education, 6(2), 177–194. Teachers can click on the link below for more information:
http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/10072/10921/1/ Authentic_Assessment.pdf

Darling-Hammond, L., Wise, A. E., & Klein, S. (1998). A license to teach: building a profession for 21st century schools. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Darling-Hammond, L., & Snyder, J. (2000). Authentic assessment of teaching in context. Teaching and Teacher Education, 16(5–6), 1523–1545. CUHK teachers can click on the link below for more information:
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0742051X00000159

Garfield, J. B. (1994). Beyond testing and grading: Using assessment to improve student learning. Journal of Statistics Education, 2(1). Teachers can click on the link below for more information: https://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v2n1/garfield.html

Gulikers, J. T. M., Kester, L., Kirschner, P. A., & Bastiaens, T. J. (2008). The effect of practical experience on perceptions of assessment authenticity, study approach, and learning outcome. Learning and Instruction, 18, 172–186.

Herrington, J., & Herrington, A. (1998). Authentic assessment and multimedia: How university students respond to a model of authentic assessment. Higher Education Research & Development, 17(3), 305–322.

Mueller, J. (2010). Authentic assessment toolbox. Teachers can click on the link below for more information: http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/whatisit.htm

Reeves, T. C., & Okey, J. R. (1996). Alternative assessment for constructivist learning environments. In B.G. Wilson (Ed.), Constructivist learning environments: Case studies in instructional design (pp. 191-202). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.

Wiggins, G. (1990). The case for authentic assessment. Practical Assessment Research & Evaluation, 2(2). Teachers can click on the link below for more information: http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=2&n=2

Young, M. F. (1995). Assessment of situated learning using computer environments. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 4(1), 89-96.

Ideas:

News enabling students to apply knowledge in read world.
In the academic year 2010-2011, DSME1040, Economics for Business Studies II, from the Department of Decision Sciences and Managerial Economics made changes to its grading portfolio by including a group project, which required students to perform an analysis for a particular piece of news. The project attempted to help students in exploring and understanding latest economic issues under topics of the following: GDP, CPI, growth and unemployment, economic fluctuations and monetary policy, aggregate demand and aggregate supply model, and international finance. Read more about their strategies here.

Authentic architecture projects.
The school of architecture at CUHK adopted authentic learning in the course of first year studio education. The aim of it was to guide freshmen through the process of how experience or an idea of design can be developed and nurtured into architecture in reality. Please click here for more information.

Promoting authenticity in assessment.
The University of the Pacific has introduced authentic assessment techniques in one of its statistics courses. The concept of “authenticity” is incorporated into different forms of assessment, such as computer lab exercises, term projects with presentations and peer reviews. Teachers can click on the link below for more information:
https://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v5n3/chance.html

Authentic assessments mapping learning needs and objectives.
Authentic assessments were adopted in an undergraduate course at Curtin University. The university began by identifying their objectives: to develop students’ communication, evaluation and thinking skills, creativity, problem solving and so on. An authentic project assessment was then used to enhance the above-mentioned skills through working on real-life tasks and situations. CUHK teachers can click on the link below for more information: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=359369.359406

Authentic activities implemented online.
Dr Kristin Demetrious used online role play as one form of authentic assessment. She believes that this training helped students not only to engage in an authentic context, but also to develop their collaborative skills. More about the project on: Using role play as an approach to online assessment – Deakin studies online. (n.d.). Contemporary online teaching case website from the Deakin University. Teachers can click on the link below for more information:

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Authentic assessment