Authentic Assessments Module Overview

Introduction

It's pretty straightforward, right? Every class we teach has a set of learning objectives; a curriculum to help students develop the knowledge and skills to meet those objectives; and assessments to demonstrate that students have met the objectives.

But are our assessments accurately measuring our learning objectives?
Are we giving our students sufficient opportunities to truly demonstrate their knowledge and skills?

If you've been in academia long enough, you've probably come across Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning.

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• Create: Produce new or original work. Design, assemble, construct, conjecture, develop, formulate, author, investigate
• Evaluate: Justify a stand or decision. Appraise, argue, defend, judge, select, support, value, critique, weigh
• Analyze: Draw connections among ideas. Differentiate, organize, relate, compare, contrast, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test
• Apply: Use information in new situations. Execute, implement, solve, use, demonstrate, interpret, operate, schedule, sketch
• Understand: Explain ideas or concepts. Classify, describe, discuss, explain, identify, locate, recognize, report, select, translate
• Remember: Recall facts and basic concepts. Define, duplicate, list, memorize, repeat, state

In Bloom's taxonomy, the verbs at the bottom of the hierarchy represent lower-order learning behaviors, like memorization and repetition. The verbs at the top of the hierarchy represent higher-order learning behaviors, like analysis and creative thinking.

Bloom's is just one of many ways of thinking about assessment design, but it can be a useful framework when creating assessments. If your learning objective is for students to write a marketing plan; balance an account sheet; or fix a car's AC unit; a multiple-choice exam is probably not going to be an effective assessment of those objectives. 

More authentic assessments

Effectively measuring your learning objectives is one obvious benefit to rethinking assessments, but there are other benefits to consider.

Authentic assessments can allow for more student agency and choice, which can result in better student engagement and participation.

Authentic assessment can emphasize student inclusion, and can better reflect diverse student backgrounds, experiences, preferences and needs.

Authentic assessments can reduce and discourage academic dishonesty, both by making it harder to cheat and by making it easier for students to feel invested in the activity. 

Learning Objectives

In this module we will explore the what alternative assessments are, why you might want to use them, and how you could start implementing them in your teaching practice.

After this module, you should be able to design alternatives assessments that can be more equitable, authentic and meaningful than traditional tests and term papers.