Authentic Assessments: Benefits and Costs

 

Authentic Assessments: Benefits and Costs

Author: Santosh Kumar Biswa, Sr. Teacher, Damphu CS, Tsirang, Bhutan

 

Many teachers feel that the most ideal and effective evaluation not only evaluates students' learning but also informs them of their strengths and weaknesses to help them develop their abilities and comprehension of the material (Authentic assessment, n.d.). An "authentic assessment" is what is referred to as such a test. To put it another way, authentic assessments are a type of evaluation strategy that aids teachers in evaluating students' real-world skills, knowledge, and abilities outside of the scope of traditional tests and exams by having them apply what they have learned in a useful, meaningful, and relevant context. It seeks to obtain a more comprehensive picture of a student's knowledge and proficiency and prepare them for subsequent stages of life in the actual world. Following Wiggins (1998), any assessment is considered authentic when it is practical and necessitates that students work on their subject matter. Additionally, he added that it should give students the chance to practice the material, consult the right sources, and receive essential feedback through judgment and creativity. Their performance and learning outcomes will be enhanced by this procedure.  

Some examples of authentic assessments are as follows:

• Teachers should ask students to complete their assignments or projects, demonstrating their knowledge and skills, so that their performance tasks will be assessed (Authentic assessment, n.d.).
• Through maintaining a portfolio, students will compile their work to check and showcase their improvement and learning (Callison, 1998).
• A teacher will encourage students to participate in realistic simulations that mimic real-world situations and challenges.
• Teachers will make students study case studies and have them analyze them to solve real-world issues based on the narration found in the studies (Authentic Assessment, n.d.).
• Students will be asked to make the class presentation or write a written project to demonstrate their mastery of a subject.

Discuss the benefits for the students of using authentic assessments.

Authentic assessments are assessments that require students to apply the knowledge and skills they have learned in real-world situations rather than simply recall information or perform rote tasks. The following are some of the advantages of using authentic assessments over traditional tests and exams for students: 

• It encourages deeper learning in the classroom through increased motivation and engagement. often more engaging and relevant to students than traditional tests, which can increase their motivation and interest in learning because students will be encouraged to apply what they have learned in real-world contexts, hence enabling them to promote deeper understanding and retention of material.
• It fosters creativity and critical thinking among students by encouraging them to find innovative solutions to complex problems. It enables them to develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills, resulting in a better understanding of content since it requires their understanding of content in a meaningful way, which can lead to a deeper understanding of the material.
• It encourages students and helps them improve their critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are transferable to other areas of their lives, as it often simulates real-world scenarios that students will encounter in their future careers, helping them better prepare for the demands of the workforce and adding relevance to future careers.
• It enables students to get meaningful and comprehensive feedback through assessment of their higher-order thinking skills by assessing their ability to think critically, creatively, and independently, which are important skills for success in both academic and professional settings so that they can judge how their skills and knowledge application in a real-world setting.
• Finally, it also improves their ability to retain information for a longer time based on what they have learned.

Thus, they are an important tool for teachers and educators, as they provide a more accurate and complete picture of students' skills, knowledge, and abilities.

Authentic assessments and their costs for the teacher

Although employing authentic assessments in the classroom has many advantages, teachers do experience some costs that everyone should be aware of. Because it requires more planning and time than any other conventional assessment (Center for Teaching and Assessment of Learning, n.d.). Some teachers may find it challenging given their already demanding workloads at school or their big class sizes. In our situation, where there are many students in the class, it can be challenging to manage our time. Grading every student in a large class can be difficult because the evaluation procedure calls for making judgments about each student (Formplus Blog, 2021). This makes it challenging for teachers to simultaneously obtain a deeper grasp of all of their students' work. Another difficulty is that most teachers lack the specialized training necessary to design and conduct accurate evaluations. This makes it difficult for them to do so. It increases costs and demands on all teachers' time. However, conducting such examinations requires technology, and not all schools may have access to facilities that are adequate for all students. As a result, it will raise the price of doing real assessments in the classroom. Last but not least, people are naturally resistant to change. Students may be resistant to change because they lack information or because they do not grasp the advantages of authentic evaluations. It can take time and lead to pushback from the groups.

To sum up, teachers should consider the costs of implementing real evaluations in schools, but should also consider how much better off pupils will be as a result. It is acknowledged that when created and carried out properly, genuine assessments can offer a more significant and thorough picture of student learning that equips students for success in the real world.

References

 

Authentic assessment. (n.d.).  Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL). https://citl.indiana.edu/teaching-resources/assessing-student-learning/authentic-assessment/

 

Callison, D. (1998). Authentic assessment.  School Library Media Activities Monthly 14(5). http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslpubsandjournals/slr/edchoice/SLMQ_AuthenticAssessment_InfoPower.pdf

Center for Teaching and Assessment of Learning. (n.d.). The Case for Authentic Assessment. https://ctal.udel.edu/resources/the-case-for-authentic-assessment/

Formplus Blog. (2021, March 18). Authentic Assessment: Definition + [Examples & Types]. https://www.formpl.us/blog/authentic-assessment

Wiggins, G. (1998). Ensuring authentic performance. Chapter 2 in Educative Assessment: Designing Assessments to Inform and Improve Student Performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, pp. 21 – 42.