Learning 2 Lead Leading 2 Learn

I was inspired to read this paper on authentic assessment, which confirms that when we refer to authentic assessment practices in higher education we must move “from a primary focus on workplaces and assessment performance to a broader focus that includes students and societal needs” (Zhan et al., 2025).

Research findings

Zhan et al. (2025) elaborate on many research-informed principles for the assessment of student learning. They navigate questions such as:

• How can assessments be designed to help students affect meaningful social change?
• What elements of assessments will help students navigate an increasingly digital world, including emerging technologies?
• How can assessments prepare students for their future academic and professional experiences?
• How can assessments support student’s ability to reflect upon, respond to and learn from feedback, as well as carry the essential skills of self-regulation and metacognition forward?
• What strategies could be implemented to meaningfully engage students in the assessment process (e.g., co-designing assessments or rubrics, providing choice, autonomy or options in assessment tasks, facilitating peer review and self-reflection processes)?
• How could assessment tasks encourage peer learning, collaboration and “strengthen relational connections?”

Designing better assessment tasks

The authors provide a framework for the design of authentic assessments grounded in 4 steps:

1. Co-creating and determining assessment goals in partnership with students.
2. Creating meaningful and contextually relevant assessment tasks.
3. Co-designing assessment criteria in partnership with students, and embedding opportunities for peer connection and collaboration.
4. Planning future-focussed feedback strategies (e.g., peer, self, instructor) and opportunities for student self-reflection, self-regulation and metacognition.

So what does all this mean?

I often hear faculty and educational developers refer to the importance of “authentic assessment” practices, without further context into what we actually mean when we use this term. This paper brings many current conversations regarding authentic assessment to life. The paper’s premise and recommendations move beyond restricted definitions of authentic assessment as assessment that is relevant to the workplace or professional practice.  It inspires us to think about authentic assessment as meaningful to students learning journey, within and beyond any one individual course. 

I’d be interested in extending the concepts presented in this paper to the level of the academic degree program.  How might we consider the above questions and steps across a student’s learning journey in their undergraduate or graduate degree?

Curiosities to consider moving forward

What are your thoughts about authentic assessment practices in higher education? 

How might you see this work informing how we design authentic assessment practices for individual courses and across academic programs?

References

Zhan, Y., Boud, D. & Du, Z. Designing for authentic assessment: a scoping review. High Educ (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-025-01588-9