Pivotal learning moment: Authentic assessments
Pivotal learning moment: Authentic assessments¶
This patch is a reflection on a pivotal learning moment in my teaching practice. It describes my struggles with assessment, both as a student and as an instructor, how I came across the concept of authentic assessment, my current implementation of this, and future plans for improvement on this aspect. Related to dimensions A1-3,A5,K2,K4,V3-4 of the UKPSF.
Assessment has always been an aspect of education with which I’ve struggled. As a student, poorly implemented assessments often bore me and seem like needless hurdles that we are required to jump through to progress to more interesting topics. This perception was stronger when assessments were disconnected from the actual practice of the subject at hand. On the other hand, assessments that were challenging and provided an opportunity to sharpen useful skills were usually the ones at which I performed best. In fact, the outputs of several of these assessments done as an undergraduate student continue to be useful for my career. As an educator, I initially did not poses enough self-awareness to realize that my assessments were not much better than the ones I myself disliked. I knew something about them was not ideal but could not identify what.
After gaining some experience and arriving at Liverpool, I came across the term authentic assessment while reading the University’s Curriculum 2021. This prompted me to investigate further application of the concept to my own field (Earth Sciences) during the course of the ADEV700 module. Around the same time, I inherited an assessment for my remote sensing module that asked students to choose their own research topic and apply all skills learned in the module to solve a real-world problem. Though I was initially sceptical of this format, students performed very well and their feedback was overwhelmingly positive. In hindsight, this should not have been surprising since this type of authentic assessment gives learners agency over their education and directly exercises useful transferable skills, both of which are key motivators for adult learners [Wlodkowski and Ginsberg, 2017]. (A3,A5,V3,K2,K3)
For the past 2020/21 academic year, the remove sensing assessment also included a component of computer programming for the analysis of the satellite imagery datasets. This reflects how the practical sessions of the module are taught and provides students with a chance to apply their programming skills to an Earth Science application, often for the first time in their degree. Teaching programming with immediate application to the learners’ main field of study has been shown to be more effective [Jacobs et al., 2016]. My own experience confirms this observation given the high quality outputs generated by students (often well above what would be expected at the second year level). Feedback from external moderators is also very positive, with this particular assessment often being singled out as an example of good practice. (K5)
Programming is one of the most desirable and transferable skills for STEM graduates. In the Geophysics programs, many of our graduates go on to work in data science and technology or are able to easily pivot into these fields when there is a downturn in the geosciences job market. The use of an authentic assessment that includes a high level of computation provides students with both practical experience and a high quality item for their portfolios of activity. This is particularly important since many technology companies tend to view demonstrable real-world experience favorably in applications. (V4)
There is still a lot of room for improvement in my use of this type of assessment. While usually more engaging, this type of assessment imposes a larger workload on students and can lead to increased feelings of pressure and anxiety. Common themes on the student feedback from the previous years were the lack of time to complete the assignment to the level of quality they wanted and the relatively low weight of this assessment on their final marks. Both of these issues are being addressed on the 2021/22 run of the module by decreasing the amount of other assessments (and thus raising the relative importance of this one) while allowing students to deliver the assignment at the end of the semester. These changes will, of course, come with their own set of challenges. For example, decreasing the amount assessments will put more pressure on students to perform well on any given one. Placing the due date at the end of the semester also decreases the chance for improvement through feedback. My strategy for tackling both of these issues will be to allow students to submit partial work for formative feedback and hold regular checkups and Q&A sessions during the semester.