Authentic Assessment

What is Authentic Assessment?

An important characteristic of a quality online course is the use of authentic assessments. Authentic assessments are also encouraged in the UDL Guidelines, specifically in Checkpoint 7.2. To clarify what authentic assessment refers to, Grant Wiggins, who originally wrote about authentic assessment in 1989, clarifies in the article quoted below:

Authentic tests are representative challenges within a given discipline. They are designed to emphasize realistic (but fair) complexity; they stress depth more than breadth. In doing so, they must necessarily involve somewhat ambiguous, ill structured tasks or problems.

--Grant Wiggins, "27 Characteristics Of Authentic Assessment"

As the article above explains, authentic assessment does not mean throwing out all written tests or using only project-based or collaborative learning. What can make an assessment authentic is the difference between performing a task instead of selecting a response or constructing a reply instead of recalling an answer.

Why Authentic Assessment?

Every course is unique and every instructor can develop their own opportunities for authentic assessment. The benefits of doing so often include

• increased student engagement,
• increased student interaction,
• increased student motivation, and
• increased student satisfaction with the course.

In addition, instructors are often invigorated by working with enthused students and find the burden of evaluating student work can become a moment of affirming student achievement. But switching to authentic assessment implies revising an entire course and rethinking the role of the teacher in some aspects of the course. The instructional designers in Online Learning are glad to help you envision your course with authentic assessment at its core. We can point you toward resources, like those on this page, and help think through the integration of authentic assessments and the other learning materials in your course.

Key Concepts

To begin planning authentic assessments for your students, use the 27 characteristics (above) and keep these pointers in mind.

Be student-directed. The assessment should focus on the student's knowledge and understanding. This means that students should choose the shape of their assessment. This principle aligns with the UDL guideline of optimizing individual choice and autonomy (Checkpoint 7.1) .

Emphasize reflection. here. This principle aligns with the UDL guideline to develop self-assessment and reflection (Checkpoint 9.3).

Make authentic assessment central. Authentic assessments should be the heart of a class. If the assessment is developed first and the learning materials and activities that lead to that assessment are developed afterward, then the assessment can fit naturally in the learning process. Supposedly authentic assessments that are "added on" to a curriculum that makes no adjustments to integrate the learning materials with the assessment are likely to be ineffective.

Make authentic assessment public. An assessment that is collected by and graded by only the instructor tends not to be authentic. There are many ways for students to publish or show their work to each other and for other students to be involved in a community (collaborative work, feedback periods, audience reaction) that reinforces the authentic nature of the assessment.