How can you use alternative and authentic assessments to evaluate your teaching strategies?

As a higher education instructor, you want to design and implement effective teaching strategies that help your students achieve the learning outcomes of your course. But how do you know if your teaching strategies are working? How do you measure and improve your teaching performance and impact? One way to answer these questions is to use alternative and authentic assessments to evaluate your teaching strategies.

1 What are alternative and authentic assessments?

Alternative and authentic assessments are forms of assessment that go beyond traditional tests and quizzes, and require students to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and abilities in realistic and meaningful contexts. For example, instead of asking students to recall facts or solve problems in isolation, you might ask them to create a portfolio, conduct a research project, design a product, perform a task, or participate in a simulation. These types of assessments can provide you with rich and diverse evidence of student learning, as well as feedback on your teaching strategies.

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Dr. Martha Boeckenfeld

I help Leaders to Master Future Tech with Human Impact| CEO & Founder, Top 100 Women of the Future | Award winning Fintech and Future Tech Influencer| Educator| Keynote Speaker | Advisor| (ex-UBS, Axa C-Level Executive)
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In my work, I've found that incorporating alternative and authentic assessments has been transformative both for my students and my teaching approach. I remember a particular instance where I shifted from traditional testing to a project-based assessment. Instead of having students simply recall facts, I asked them to conduct a research project and present their findings. The level of engagement and depth of understanding displayed by the students was remarkable. They were not just learning; they were applying their knowledge in a practical, real-world context. This approach also allowed me to see a different side of my students – their creativity, problem-solving skills, and ability to work collaboratively.

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Akitav Sharma

Researcher-Practitioner Dedicated to Helping Kids Rediscover Their Joy of Learning.
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It is noteworthy that we tend to relegate the methods of assessments that predate “traditional” quizzes and tests for most of the world into the ‘alternative’ categories. Assessments, if supplemented effectively with extant/emerging technologies, can accommodate almost all recommendations of every school of thought in the domains of learning, cognition, and sociology of education. This implies that we can offer “personally adapted and contextually relevant” learning experiences tailored to each learner.

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2 Why use alternative and authentic assessments?

Alternative and authentic assessments can offer several benefits for you and your students. First, they can align more closely with the learning outcomes and expectations of your course, and reflect the real-world challenges and situations that your students will face after graduation. Second, they can promote active and deep learning, as well as higher-order thinking skills, such as analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and creativity. Third, they can foster student engagement, motivation, and autonomy, as well as collaboration and communication skills. Fourth, they can enhance your teaching effectiveness, as you can use the results of the assessments to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your teaching strategies, and make adjustments accordingly.

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3 How to design alternative and authentic assessments?

Designing alternative and authentic assessments requires careful planning and alignment with course goals, objectives, and content. First, you should define the learning outcomes and criteria that you want to assess and make them clear to students. Then, choose an appropriate assessment method that matches the learning outcomes and criteria and allows students to demonstrate their learning in a realistic and meaningful way. Develop a rubric or scoring guide that specifies the levels of performance and evidence required for each criterion, and provide students with instructions, guidelines, examples, and support for completing the assessment. Additionally, allow students some choice and flexibility in how they approach the task. Lastly, implement the assessment in a fair and consistent manner, use the rubric or scoring guide to evaluate student work, provide constructive feedback, and analyze the assessment data to inform teaching decisions.

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Akitav Sharma

Researcher-Practitioner Dedicated to Helping Kids Rediscover Their Joy of Learning.
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Such a formulaic approach can only generate mass averages along the lines of standardised testing. Individualised assessments are impractical for one human teacher to plan/design and implement in any classroom with more that 5-7 learners. It becomes even more daunting in case a teacher has multiple classes to manage. This has been one of the primary reasons why these holistic methodologies have not scaled up. One must also consider how assessments can afford opportunities for development and sustenance of self efficacy beliefs of the learners.

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4 How to overcome the challenges of alternative and authentic assessments?

Alternative and authentic assessments can present some challenges, such as being time-consuming and complex to design, administer, and grade, and requiring more resources and support than traditional assessments. These assessments can also raise issues of validity, reliability, and fairness. Additionally, they can create anxiety and confusion for students who are unfamiliar or unprepared. To overcome these challenges, start small and simple by gradually introducing alternative and authentic assessments in your course. Align your assessment methods with course outcomes and content, use multiple sources of evidence to evaluate learning, train yourself and colleagues on scoring guides, communicate expectations frequently, provide feedback throughout the process, and solicit student feedback to refine assessment practices.

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5 How to integrate alternative and authentic assessments with other forms of assessment?

Alternative and authentic assessments do not have to replace or exclude other forms of assessment, such as tests, quizzes, or essays. Rather, they can complement and enrich your assessment repertoire, and provide you with a more comprehensive and holistic picture of your students' learning and your teaching strategies. You can use alternative and authentic assessments as formative or summative assessments, or as both, depending on your purpose and context. You can also combine them with other forms of assessment, such as self-assessment, peer assessment, or external assessment, to enhance your students' learning experiences and outcomes. The key is to balance and align your assessment methods with your course goals, objectives, and content, and to use them to inform and improve your teaching strategies.

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Akitav Sharma

Researcher-Practitioner Dedicated to Helping Kids Rediscover Their Joy of Learning.
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Standardised assessments are not indicative of individual achievement or meaningful learning. ‘Fair’ testing would require individualising learner experiences and offering scaffolds against the friction of hidden curriculum. Design learning outcomes that accommodate scope/space for individualised meaning making and offer direct choices to supplement autonomous explorations. Every course will succeed in promoting its learning outcomes if it can offer - opportunities for reflection, metacognitive engagement, self efficacy beliefs, and autonomous engagement with contextually relevant content/format.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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How can you use alternative and authentic assessments to evaluate your teaching strategies?

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1 What are alternative and authentic assessments?

2 Why use alternative and authentic assessments?

3 How to design alternative and authentic assessments?

4 How to overcome the challenges of alternative and authentic assessments?

5 How to integrate alternative and authentic assessments with other forms of assessment?

6 Here’s what else to consider

Higher Education

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How can you use alternative and authentic assessments to evaluate your teaching strategies?

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5

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1 What are alternative and authentic assessments?

2 Why use alternative and authentic assessments?

3 How to design alternative and authentic assessments?

4 How to overcome the challenges of alternative and authentic assessments?

5 How to integrate alternative and authentic assessments with other forms of assessment?

6 Here’s what else to consider

Higher Education

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