Authentic assessment
Authentic assessment underpins assessment in the Block. An authentic assessment should be designed to:
- mimic professional practice and enable the acquisition and application of professional knowledge, skills and experience
- leverage theoretical knowledge learned in the unit and connect to the workplace
- be student-centred, thus increasing validity, relevance and engagement
- pull together depth and breadth of learning
- maintain a focus on the student's future career through clear alignment with the curriculum
- provide conditions and contexts relevant to the changing workplace
- be challenging and achievable
Use these ideas in conjunction with the following examples to design authentic assessments.
Effectively assessing learning in the Block
Focus assessment tasks on evidencing the learning outcomes and demonstrating relevant professional skills. Consider a range of tasks that can effectively:
- demonstrate the skills, knowledge and capabilities in the learning outcomes
- increase the likelihood that students are submitting their own work for assessment, and
- balance potential limitations of a particular method with a complementary assessment
Planning your assessments
- Apply a variety of assessment types to demonstrate learning
- Design for consistency and effectiveness in feedback and marking
- Build the development of skills into the assessment
- Keep in mind the short timeline for providing feedback in the block
To minimise inappropriate sharing and/or contract cheating:
- include a reflective component in the assessment
- plan time in class for students to work on completing assessment tasks
- include personalised contributions and oral presentations
Preparing students for assessment
For these strategies to work, students need to specifically know what is expected from them. It is important to:
- Provide clarity about the assessment task. Explain and stipulate all requirements
- Provide appropriate scaffolding for assessment tasks and ample opportunity to practise
- Make sure students are able to interpret the assessment criteria—discuss the criteria in class, using examples of student work to illustrate.
- Use a rubric to help students understand what is expected.
- Develop students’ ability to evaluate their own work. Encourage them to grade their own work by completing the rubric prior to submitting to the Dropbox and discuss the differences between their self-evaluation and the assessor’s.