CRADLE International Symposium 2023 – Open Panel 1 Review

10 November 2023

How can we strengthen relationships between authenticity, assessment, and future practice?

Reviewed by Lincoln James

Chaired by Professor Rola Ajjawi, the symposium, ‘Re-orienting authentic assessment for an unknown future‘, seeked to trouble superficial and instrumental practices of authentic assessment, re-orienting it towards the increasingly uncertain future. The symposium was opened on 13 October with a keynote by Professor Crina Damşa. The symposium included two open panel sessions. The first session was held on Monday 16 October and asked how can we strengthen relationships between authenticity, assessment, and future practice? In this post CRADLE PhD student Lincoln James reviews the panel session.

Panellists

Monday 16 October’s Open Panel was the second public session of CRADLE’s International Symposium 2023, focusing on ‘How can we strengthen relationships between authenticity, assessment, and future practice?’

This topic immediately grabbed my attention because I did my honour’s thesis on authentic assessment, and much of my career to date has been helping academics tackle this challenge. However, the panel aimed to explore what authenticity in assessments may look like today and the opportunities and challenges this presents. 

Professor Denise Jackson focused on authentic assessments with industry involvement, noting the challenge of an assessment that fits within universities’ often prescriptive and clearly defined requirements while remaining flexible enough to align with industry placements, where their world is fluid and ill-defined. Denise recommends exploring those differences, suggesting that these academic/student/industry partnerships can help us find new ways of supporting and assessing student learning.

Associate Proferssor Kelly Matthews then recommended that there be water between assessment authenticity and work. Authentic assessment is the bridge to the world of work. However, risks present themselves when we presume that authentic assessments are only about ‘work-ready graduates’ (i.e., their first job post-graduation). Assessments should also help students make sense of who they are now and who they may be in the future, help them think about the future they want to inhabit, and should also help students deal with the discomfort of entering new spaces.

Professor Keith Willey asked us to reflect on what ‘actual learning’ was. Once we have identified that, we can start designing the learning activities and create opportunities for formative feedback. Only once we have thought about those two things should we then think about the assessment task. Keith warned against defining authentic assessment as just being similar to work a specific professional does. What about the jobs that are yet to exist? What about other essential capabilities of a professional, such as being autonomous, being literate personally, digitally and with feedback, and being able to manage complexity?

Lastly, Professor David Boud spoke on how learning looks in organisations (harking back to his earlier research). Learning in workplaces is often informal; it is almost always invisible, done collaboratively rather than individually, and professionals often must figure out what ‘good performance’ looks like for themselves (hello, evaluative judgement). On the downside, professionals may often be reluctant to talk to their supervisor about their learning to maintain an air of competence. David challenged us to think about how these factors may influence how we assess student learning. 

There were many more insights shared in the panel, but my key takeaway is that what is or is not considered ‘authentic’ in assessment is still a complex, contested topic. However, considering students’ futures can be a focusing lens for us to help prepare students for that future.

• View the Open Panel Session recording here