Make Your Assessments Authentic

Rather than brainstorm questions for quizzes for your next student assessment, consider designing assessment tasks based on course competencies—the basis of authentic assessment.

How to assess competency?

If you teach Customer Relations 101, how would you assess the competency, “Respond to customer complaints”?

A conventional assessment method would:

• Ask learners to select the correct response to a question or list the appropriate steps
• Evaluate learners on their response

In contrast, an authentic assessment method would:

• Ask learners to generate a response to a question or resolve a customer complaint scenario
• Provide the learner with the assessment strategy in advance
• Feature performance criteria which specify how the learners will be evaluated
• Evaluate learners on demonstrating the competency

‍Develop a performance assessment task

WIDS software provides you with an efficient method for developing an authentic assessment - a Performance Assessment Task (PAT). PATs allow you to evaluate a learner’s demonstration of a specific competency or set of competencies.  

PATs feature:

• Clear directions for how to demonstrate competence
• Performance standards, including an assessment strategy and criteria
• A scoring standard that details the minimum performance required
• A scoring guide checklist or a rubric with a rating scale

‍Use key criteria for PATs

Authentic assessments and PATs developed in WIDS feature three key criteria.  Your assessments and PATs should encompass the following:

1. Validity ensures that your assessment accurately measures what it is intended to measure.
   • Learning outcomes are based on an accurate analysis of learner's needs
   • Learning outcomes are measured by the performance assessments
   • The assessment matches the competency content
2. Reliability ensures that your assessment measures the same level of competence each time it is used.
   • Criteria are uniform for all learners
   • All learners are graded on a level playing field, regardless of the class or assessor
   • Learners are evaluted consistently across multiple course/program sections
3. Fairness ensures students are given equitable opportunities to demonstrate competence.
   • Task requirements and the basis for evaluation are described clearly
   • Learners are evaluated on their level of competence - not in comparision to other learners
   • Learner competence is well documented

By developing valid, reliable, and fair assessments, you are evaluating how learners demonstrate course competencies. In addition, PATs help your learners understand how they will be evaluated so they can apply their classroom learning to real-life situations.

WIDS (Worldwide Instructional Design System) is a nonprofit organization that provides curriculum design software, consulting, and training services.  Downlead the free Sample Course Performance Assessment Task.

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