Lesson 3 Why Use Authentic Assessment

AUTHENTIC
ASSESSMENT IN
THE CLASSROOM
WHY USE AUTHENTIC
ASSESSMENT
OBJECTIVES
• Compare and contrast the authenticity
of typical tests (traditional assessment)
and authentic tasks (authentic
assessment)
• Compare formative and summative
assessment in giving authentic tasks
WHY USE
AUTHENTIC
ASSESSMENT?
Why Use Authentic
Assessment?
• Authentic assessment evaluates whether the student can
successfully transfer the knowledge and skills gained in the
classroom to various contexts, scenarios, and situations.
• Authentic Assessment is grounded in theoretical best
practices for teaching and learning and serves as an effective
measure for course learning outcomes.
• In many ways, it can be considered the difference between
measuring what students know vs. how they can apply that
knowledge.
Why Use Authentic
Assessment?
• These types of assignments will vary by discipline but
typically require students to complete a project.
• For example, you may ask students to apply an
engineering problem to a real world example, develop
a web application, design a model, critically review
case studies, or create multimedia presentations. This
page has more information on authentic assessment.
Why Use Authentic
Assessment?
The table below from Wiggins (1998) compares
traditional assessments (tests and exams) to authentic
assessments
Typical tests (tasks).Authentic tasks Indicators of authenticity
Are integrated challenges in

The task is multifaceted and
Contain items that isolate which a range of skills and
complex, even if there is a right
particular skills or facts knowledge must be used in
answer.
coordination
Involve complex tasks that for

The validity of the assessment is
which there may be no right
Include easily scored items not sacrificed in favor or reliable
answer, and that may not be
scoring.
easily scored
Students may use particular

Are "one shot"; students get one Are iterative; contain recurring
knowledge or skills in several
chance to show their learning tasks
different ways or contexts.
Why Use Authentic
Assessment?
Typical tests Authentic tasks Indicators of authenticity
Require a high-quality product or

Correctness is not the only
performance, and a justification
Require correct responses criterion; students must be able to
of the solutions to problems
justify their answers.
encountered
The tasks and standards for

Must be unknown to the student in Should be known in advance to
judgment should be know or
advance to be valid students as much as possible
predictable.
Are tied to real-world contexts The context and constraints or the

Are disconnected from real-world
and constraints; require the task are like those encountered by
contexts and constraints
student to "do" the subject practitioners in the discipline.
The assessment is designed to

Provide usable diagnostic
improve future performance, and
Provide a score information about students' skills
students are important
and knowledge
"consumers" of such information.
Authentic, Formative and
Summative
• There are two types of assessments frequently used in
courses: formative and summative.
• Formative assessments can be thought of as "spot
checks" used throughout the course to assess the
student's current grasp of the material and current
mastery over the subject matter (e.g. pop quizzes).
Summative
• Summative assessments are used to measure how well
students have mastered the entirety of the material and
subject matter sometimes by the mid-point of the
course (mid-term) and/or at the end of the course
(final).
• Formative assessments are focused on evaluating
specific knowledge and/or skills at a specific point, the
results of which can be used to improve learning as the
course progresses (Indiana University Bloomington,
n.d.).
Summative
Formative assessment Summative Assessment
Grading Usually not graded Usually graded
Improvement: to give
feedback to instructors and Judgment: to derive a grade,
Purpose students about how well and to allow students to work
students understand specific intensively with course material
material
Less focused on specific skills

Very focused on whether
or information; instead, allows
Focus students have acquired
students to demonstrate a range
specific skills or information
of skills and knowledge
Requires little time from Requires more time from

Effort instructors or students; instructors and students;
simple; done in class complex; done outside of class
Summative
• Well-designed summative assessments can be
authentic assessments requiring students to think like a
practitioner of the field/discipline (Wiggins, 1998).
• Authentic (summative) assessments require a
significant investment of time from both the student
and the instructor.
Summative
• The student will be required to think critically and
apply a myriad of skills (merging those learned within
the course with those learned outside the course) to
approach, evaluate, and solve a problem which may
take weeks to solve (e.g. a final project).
• The instructor will need to take more time to evaluate
and grade the students' work than they would if
applying a traditional assessment technique such as a
multiple choice exam.
• Cite one comparison of typical test and authentic task and tell
which is better
• Compare the formative and summative assessment according to:
• Grade
• Purpose
• Focus
• Effort
Go to Quizizz.com
Wait for the instructor to give the code for you
to access the quiz
Use this format as your nickname:
Surname, First Name
Example:
Swift, Taylor

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AUTHENTIC

Are integrated challenges in

Involve complex tasks that for

Students may use particular

Require a high-quality product or

The tasks and standards for

Are tied to real-world contexts The context and constraints or the

The assessment is designed to

Grading Usually not graded Usually graded

Less focused on specific skills

Requires little time from Requires more time from

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