You’ve heard the term ‘authentic assessment’, but do you actually know what it means? We’re breaking down the jargon to explain what authentic assessments are, why they’re important and how three academics have come up with creative ways to incorporate them into their classes today.
What would you do: Take a first-year nursing student to treat a critically ill patient in a real-life hospital emergency room? Ask them to write an essay to explain, theoretically, how they’d go about treating said patient? Or, have them demonstrate, on a simulation manikin in the UTS nursing labs, how they’d go about taking a patient’s vitals upon arrival at hospital?
If you selected option three, then you selected the best option for an ‘authentic assessment’.
An ‘authentic assessment’ is a task that builds and gives feedback on the skills and knowledge students need once they get a job, in a form that’s similar to some work they might do. It doesn’t need to include every aspect of a full-scale problem they might face in their profession, but it should enable the student to show what they can ‘do’ with what they’ve learned, rather than which facts they’ve memorised.
Click here to see the rest of the article, including exciting and authentic programs based on games arcades, solving complex issues in antimicrobial resistance and using industry panel assessment.
Link to article: http://newsroom.uts.edu.au/news/2018/08/when-uni-meets-real-world