Authentic assessment: using assessment to help students learn.

Authors

  • Sally Brown University of Northumbria at Newcastle

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7203/relieve.21.2.7674

Keywords:

Assessment, Authentic assessment, learning, higher education

Abstract

Authentic assessment offers students opportunities to learn through the process of assessment itself, if the tasks are chosen for high relevance both to the programme of learning and the ultimate life directions of graduates, in employment, research and personal development. When assessment is designed to articulate clearly with intended learning outcomes, it can have benefits in terms of fostering and deepening student engagement while helping students advance in their skills development and subject knowledge. While setting up and managing authentic assessment tasks can be time- and resource-intensive, it is argued here that the benefits in terms of learning enhancement far outweigh these factors. The article concludes with a manifesto proposing some preconditions for effective and authentic assessment.

Author Biography

Sally Brown, University of Northumbria at Newcastle

Independent Consultant , Emerita Professor of Higher Education Diversity in Teaching and Learning , Leeds Metropolitan University , UK . She was Head of Quality Enhacement at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle. Address: 22 Clifton Terrace, Forest Hall, NEWCASTLE, NE12 9NP

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Published

2015-12-29

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 2 (2015)

Section

Special Section

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