C1 - Authenticity

Unlike traditional assessments, an authentic assessment isn't about measuring rote learning or having students remember and restate information. Instead, authentic assessment focuses on students' ability to understand, analyze, and integrate instructional materials and apply that knowledge to meaningful, real-world examples. (You know, all those higher level Bloom's taxonomy words!)

At its essence, an authentic assessment is one that requires students to apply what they’ve learned in a new (possibly complex) circumstance or situation. This can take the form of real-world assessments that require students to engage in actual situations in their field (e.g., doing a life history interview with a grandparent or performing a scientific experiment). It could also be something that is relevant to the topic/discipline which has students engage in situations that mimic the real world (e.g., a case study or developing a business plan for a fictitious company). 

It's not always possible to mimic a real-world environment in every assessment, but, as much as possible, go beyond basic multiple choice or T/F questions that don't ask more of students than regurgitating facts. It's possible to craft case study/scenario-type questions that involve application, analysis, evaluation.

Examples of authentic assessment include:

• performance of a skill
• demonstrating use of a particular knowledge
• scenario-based questions
• simulations / role plays
• portfolios

Here are a few resources you might find useful:

@ONE Authentic Assessment Guide Links to an external site. 

Authentic Assessment in the Online Classroom Links to an external site.

Time for a Change: Authentic Assessment in STEM Links to an external site.

Where to Look

Look in discussions, assignments, projects, quizzes, midterms and finals.

What to Look For

Measuring authenticity can be subjective. Look for assessments that ask students to demonstrate learning outcomes, ideally in ways that require analysis and application. If a quiz is written in a way that the questions require higher order thinking, it is possible that could meet alignment for this criterion. (But one or two "authentic" questions in a 10+ question quiz will not make it an authentic assessment.)