https://www.col.org/news/registration-open-for-on-authentic-assessment-for-online-learning/
Are exams authentic? Can they be authentic?
The short answer is yes. The longer answer is in certain circumstances.
There are disciplines where exams are a concrete reality. In my context, for example, if you wish to be a plumber, welder, engineer, nurse, or information technology professional, there are certain exams students must successfully complete to participate in professional practice. In those instances, educators have a professional (perhaps moral) obligation to do what they can to best prepare their learners to take those exams. Using the 5-dimensional framework:
Task – Pass the discipline specific exam
Physical/digital context: Online proctored exam
Social context: Individual, private assessment
Polished product: Test score
Criteria and standards: Right or Wrong? (1st time pass rate)
In these certain circumstances, exams are authentic because they match what a learner must be able to achieve in a real-world context. In my context, if a nursing student doesn’t pass the NCLEX, they don’t get to be a nurse. Our Nursing program is also judged on the percentage of nursing students who pass the NCLEX their first time. In those certain circumstances, online or in-person proctoring will be required to ensure that students are honest. But during their 4-years of study, our nursing program also makes heavy use of simulation and clinical, which come as close as possible to the ideal of authentic assessment. Students are recorded doing activities, and they can’t fake it.
Remember the major point from the last post; all assessment strategies are imperfect. Because we cannot achieve perfectly authentic assessments in this imperfect world, we need to be clear about how our assessments are imperfect. There will be rare times and occasions when exams are authentic, but exams are often accompanied by other assessment strategies that provide a holistic understanding of the learning process.
Dr. J