Authentic Assessment

Are essays, tests and exams a good measure of student readiness for their professions?  To prepare for today’s professional work environments, does Higher Education need to prepare and test students on a wider range of relevant skills?  

Authentic assessment is about assessing students for their ability to complete complex, real-life, and ill-defined tasks that are closer to tasks in an actual job role in their field of work. In this exciting coffee course, get ready to be challenged about established wisdom on assessment!  Enter the world of wicked problems, ill-defined tasks and complex projects requiring collaboration….

We will be looking at the latest ideas about what is meant by “authentic assessment,” why it is being adopted by many teaching academics, some key design features, some case examples and critiques, and also a “big picture” look at the future of assessment in Higher Education.

Modules

  • Day 1 – What is authentic assessment and why do it?
  • Day 2 – Principles of authentic assessment
  • Day 3 – Case studies and examples of authentic assessment
  • Day 4 – Designing assessment that is authentic
  • Day 5 – Statistics, walls and neo-liberal agendas – the wider issues

Course Dates

This course will run Monday, 29 April – Friday, 3 May 2019 through this blog. There are 5 blog posts, one per day, that will take about 15-20 minutes to work through.

Facilitators

Jill Lyall has a background in social sciences, community services, and adult education.  Jill has worked for many years in Vocational Education and Training in a TAFE environment in Western Australia.  During that time she developed an interest in technology for learning, and developed her skills for online learning. Since early 2015, Jill has been working on a range of projects with ANU Online, helping to create online materials for post-graduate courses and creating support and training resources in technology enhanced learning for academics at ANU.

Mandy Tutalo joined ANU in 2017 and moved to ANU Online in 2018 as Education Support Officer. Having spent a few decades working in education including ten years as a classroom teacher in the ACT, she is passionate about education, teaching and learning.

Technology-Enhanced Learning in Higher Education Certificate

Go here to learn more on getting recognised for your participation in coffee courses.

All are welcome

We welcome all staff, including tutors, demonstrators, professional staff, and academics at the Australian National University and beyond to join us for this course. ANU staff can enrol on HORUS for recognition for completing this course (look for a course AOC024 called “Authentic Assessment” in the Training Catalogue.)

Questions?

Please feel free to contact EdDesign@anu.edu.au with any questions.

How to participate

There are 4 blog posts that will take about 15-20 minutes to work through. The entire course is conducted online, at your own pace through this blog. We encourage you to make a cup of coffee or tea and work through the material. Each post includes an activity or discussion question for you to respond to in the comment section of the blog. Be sure to subscribe to the blog (scroll down to the bottom, enter your email address and click on the red Subscribe button).

All are welcome

We welcome all staff, including tutors, demonstrators, professional staff, and academics at the Australian National University and beyond to join us for this course.

Question

Please feel free to contact telt.smp@anu.edu.au with any questions.