Authentic conditions for authentic assessment: Aligning task and assessment

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Research and Development in Higher Education Vol. 29: Critical Visions Thinking, learning and researching in higher education

July, 2006, 392 pages
Published by
Alison Bunker and Iris Vardi
ISBN
0 908557 69 8
Abstract 

Despite major discussion and consideration of authentic assessment through the 1990s, little progress appears to have been made towards its widespread adoption in higher education. Universities often serve to limit the use of authentic approaches in learning tasks and assessment, through restrictive policies. In this paper, we briefly review the literature and summarise the characteristic elements of authentic assessment, and argue that task, assessment and university policies must be aligned for truly effective use of authentic assessment to occur in higher education.

Keywords: authentic assessment, authentic task, higher education