Browsing by Author "Bloxham, Susan"
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Item Authentic assessment: creating a blueprint for course design(2018) Villarroel, Verónica; Bloxham, Susan; Bruna, Daniela; Bruna, Carola; Herrera-Seda, ConstanzaAuthenticity has been identified as a key characteristic of assessment design which promotes learning. Authentic assessment aims to replicate the tasks and performance standards typically found in the world of work, and has been found to have a positive impact on student learning, autonomy, motivation, self-regulation and metacognition; abilities highly related to employability. Despite these benefits, there are significant barriers to the introduction of authentic assessment, particularly where there is a tradition of testing' decontextualised subject knowledge. One barrier may be the lack of conceptualisation of the term authentic assessment sufficient to inform assessment design at the individual course level. This article tackles that omission by a systematic review of literature from 1988 to 2015. Thirteen consistent characteristics of authentic assessment are identified leading to the classification of three conceptual dimensions: realism, cognitive challenge and evaluative judgement. These dimensions are elaborated and used to propose a step-based model for designing and operating authentic assessment in individual higher education subjects.Item Using principles of authentic assessment to redesign written examinations and tests.(2019) Villarroel, Verónica; Boud, David; Bloxham, Susan; Bruna, Daniela; Bruna, CarolaTests and examinations are widely used internationally. Despite their pervasiveness, they tend to measure lower order thinking skills in a decontextualized manner at a time when the literature frequently argues for the benefits of a richer, authentic approach to assessment. The focus of this paper is to improve authenticity in test assessment methods through promoting realism, cognitive challenge and evaluative judgement during the planning, administering and following up of assessment tasks. The article builds on a systematic literature review, in which the main principles of authentic assessment were outlined. In this paper, we posit how these principles can be implemented through the three chronological phases of the assessment process: before, during and after the act of assessment.