Authentic assessment in higher education

Assessing a student’s knowledge and skills in ways that reflect real-world contexts offers dynamic learning experiences and prepares students for future work scenarios. Many argue that this kind of assessment nurtures the transferable skills demanded by employers in a rapidly changing job market. Educators from a range of disciplines now seek innovative ways to incorporate such soft skills into assessment design. This collection reflects those efforts, featuring guidance on getting started with low-stakes assessments, building relationships and collaborating effectively with industry and planning relevant events that engage students.

Students in class working on a project together

Events-based authentic assessment that can boost employability

While demonstrating knowledge through exams has its place, how often do we use exam techniques and skills in our daily lives? Events offer a more authentic way to demonstrate and test professional skills

Becky Lewis, Colin McClure

University of East Anglia, Queen’s University Belfast

Students in an exam hall during an exam

Partnering with industry for authentic experiences and assessment

Getting students workplace-ready is a challenge. However, partnering with industry can help us offer authentic experiences and assessments that equip our students for successful futures in their chosen fields

Richard Bowater, Sarah Rayment, Michael Loughlin

University of East Anglia, Nottingham Trent University

Cheating with phone in exam

How to design low-stakes authentic assessment that promotes academic integrity

Robust assessment design is more important than ever in the battle to maintain academic integrity, say Nguyen Bui and Simon Feros

Nguyen Bui , Simon Feros

Australian National University

Students working on a project together

Students need a balanced diet of assessment practices

We propose evaluating our assessments and incorporating innovative elements to better emulate real-world tasks in terms of both the process and product of assessment, write David Tree, Stephanie Baines, Pauldy Otermans, Nicholas Worsfold and Emily Hobson

Multiple authors

Brunel University London , University of East Anglia

Bernardo Pereira Nunes

Three innovative authentic assessments to encourage soft skill mastery

Students on hard skills-intensive courses such as computer science need to develop effective communication and other soft skills. Bernardo Pereira Nunes offers three assessments to help

Bernardo Pereira Nunes

Australian National University