4. Defining characteristic
• A commitment to
• “... Engaging and worthy problems
or questions of importance, in which
students must use knowledge to
fashion performances effectively
and .”
Grant Wiggins
4
5. 5
• multiple-choice tests
• fill-in-the-blanks
• true-false
• matching words
• … Students are passive
learners
Authentic assessment is not:
6. "Life is an open book exam."
• Learners need to be
convinced of the
authenticity of the task if
they are to fully engage
Professor Alan Blinder
Princeton University
6
10. Constructive alignment (Biggs 1999)
Is there is
between the traditional
examination instrument, and term
time pedagogy and defined
learning outcomes?
10
12. How often do
people solve
problems in real life
by locking
themselves in a
room for 3 hours
with no books, no
web access, not
talking to anyone,
answering MCQs?
12
13. 13
Is a closed book,
invigilated exam
more likely to
foster
… or
cramming/ data
dumping?
14. “Mugging up” is for mugs
• Deep learning will occur only when the
learner is ,
, or , incoming
stimuli …
• Authentic, real-world, workplace-integrated
assessment is
14
16. In brief …
• A semi-structured ‘mini-case (or ‘caselette’)
• Harnesses the power of ICTs to emphasise currency
and real world authenticity
• A summative assessment item …
… invites the student to draw on all that they have
learnt (determining what is relevant).
16
17. Dull? Boring? Something to fear?
• Final assessment
• Boredom and stress not conducive to deep learning
• Important to catch the imagination and appeal to the
creativity of the learner
• Multimedia enhancements increase student
satisfaction and learning
(O'Brien and Seawell 2004; Vaughan 2001)
17
18. Key features
• Students play the role of decision-maker,
auditor, consultant or advisor
• They are presented with a unstructured
(open-ended) problem that requires
resolution (usually in the form of a set of
recommendations)
• No pre-exam night 'cramming'
18
19. The template
the setting in which the
problem/situation is identified and framed
the project and issues to resolve
the setting of parameters
and suggestions about methods/concepts/models/tools
to employ.
19
20. The ground rules
• To minimise the scope for unethical behaviour …
1) Time period for the exam must be sufficiently tight
1) Make clear (as a stated objective of the subject)
that
is the key to success
1) 'Text-book' impersonal responses will not attract
high grades.
20
28. Students have 24 hours to submit …
28
Remains
authentic
throughout
29. You have to have
invigilated exams or
students will cheat
29
30. 1) Students cheat during
invigilated exams
1) In the adult learner
context, only a small
percentage will attempt
to cheat
2) These people will cheat
whatever the exam
instrument
Seldom observed points
30
32. Getting started
• Keep a look out for material all the time (not
exam time!)
• e.g. Local newspaper, periodical websites,
magazines, television news or current affairs
programmes
32
33. What to look for
• A that learners can easily relate to in lay
terms
• Objective: to get them to about an
issue
• Student to act as ‘expert witness’ – an effective
mechanism for the validation of their learning in
their own minds
33
34. Creating a scenario
• Having settled on a theme, gather
together various media that can bring
the case to life
• The inclusion of hyperlinks,
photographs and/or streaming media
adds a human dimension
34
35. Lead characters
• No story is complete without lead characters
• Using people with names, and pictures and
voices acts as a catalyst to student engagement
• Fictional characters must give the appearance of
being real!
35
36. Setting
• Role play the bridge between a learner's
education and their professional practice
• Placing the learner in the role of the key
decision maker, the expert advisor, or the
auditor
• Revisit the stated learning outcomes
36
37. Defining the parameters
• The definition of the assessment task might
amount to no more than a paragraph
• Ideally it should invite a wide of variety of
37
38. Striking a balance
• Avoid 'spoon-feeding' but …
• … not so unstructured a student is either
struck by 'writers block' or goes off in the
wrong direction.
38
39. Expectations
• Before writing , it is
helpful to develop an outline of the kind of
response one expects from the learner and,
importantly, …
• This process may also lead to being
refined
39
41. OBOW exams …
• A form of assessment that fosters
as opposed to a display of inert knowledge
• Test problem-solving skills not memory
• Equips learners with 21st Century skills
41
42. What OBOW exams deliver…
• An assessment instrument that is more relevant to
goals of the curriculum, greater authenticity, where
real-world problems take centre-stage
• Allow ICTs to be harnessed to encourage
interaction
• Student engagement with the assessment task
induces
• Low cost solution for exam delivery in open and
distance learning
42
43. • Studies show stimulation with audio will
increase retention rate by 20%. If stimulated
with audiovisual, memory retention climbs to
30%. If presented with interactive multimedia
involvement, the retention rate can be as
high as 60%.
43
44. References
• Williams, Jeremy B. (2009)The efficacy of the final examination: a
comparative study of closed-book, invigilated exams and open-book,
open-web exams (with Amy Wong), British Journal of Educational
Technology, 40 (2), 227-236).
• Williams, Jeremy B. (2007) E-xams: harnessing the power of ICTs to
enhance authenticity, (with Wing Lam and Alton Chua), Educational
Technology and Society, 10 (3), 209-221.
• Williams, Jeremy B. (2007) Using digital storytelling as an assessment
instrument: Preliminary findings at an online
university, (with Kanishka Bedi), Proceedings of the 11th CAA
Conference, pp.433-447, Loughborough, England, 10-11 July.
• Williams, Jeremy B. (2006) The place of the closed book, invigilated
final examination in a knowledge economy, Educational Media
International, 43(2), 107-119.
44