The "WHY" of Authentic Assessments

Real World Applications

Authentic assessments can be a bit messy. They aren't black and white like a T/F quiz. They often involve wrestling with real world topics and their rubrics are harder to design. However when done right, they can encourage students to apply information to new problems or real situations.

As mentioned in the introductory page of this module, the benefits of authentic assessments don't only include accurately measuring student learning, but authentic assessments also can allow for more student choice (key element of Universal Design for Learning), increase student inclusion, as well as naturally increase academic integrity. These benefits are more challenging to design, grade, and facilitate, as they require more assistance to the learner. However, depending on your course learning outcomes, authentic assessments might be a more effective way to meet those goals. Anecdotally, faculty and students both prefer the learning experiences over high pressure examinations. 

Educator and author Grant Wiggins developed this table to show some key differences between typical exams and authentic assessments (Wiggins 1998).

 

Typical Tests

Authentic Tasks

Indicators of Authenticity

Require correct responses

Require a high-quality product or performance, and a justification of the solutions to problems encountered

Correctness is not the only criterion; students must be able to justify their answers.

Must be unknown to the student in advance to be valid

Should be known in advance to students as much as possible

The tasks and standards for judgment should be known or predictable.

Are disconnected from real-world contexts and constraints

Are tied to real-world contexts and constraints; require the student to “do” the subject.

The context and constraints of the task are like those encountered by practitioners in the discipline.

Contain items that isolate particular skills or facts

Are integrated challenges in which a range of skills and knowledge must be used in coordination

The task is multifaceted and complex, even if there is a right answer.

Include easily scored items

Involve complex tasks that for which there may be no right answer, and that may not be easily scored

The validity of the assessment is not sacrificed in favor of reliable scoring.

Are “one shot”; students get one chance to show their learning

Are iterative; contain recurring tasks

Students may use particular knowledge or skills in several different ways or contexts.

Provide a score

Provide usable diagnostic information about students’ skills and knowledge

The assessment is designed to improve future performance, and students are important “consumers” of such information.



Resources

Wiggins, Grant. (1998). Ensuring authentic performance. Chapter 2 in Educative Assessment: Designing Assessments to Inform and Improve Student Performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, pp. 21 – 42.