Authentic Student Work
Make the learning visible. Improve one assessment — not your whole course — so the student work it produces actually shows you the learning you care about.
Understand it
You don't need to turn every assessment into a major project. Start with one question: what do I need students to show me they can actually do? Then check whether the assessment produces that evidence.
Authentic does not have to mean a semester-long project, a public presentation, group work, or more grading. A short scenario, decision, explanation, diagnosis, or discipline-relevant product may be enough — and this isn't an argument against multiple choice. Recognition and recall are appropriate evidence for some outcomes; the question is whether the assessment gives you enough evidence for what you actually need to know.
Live learning experience
Given the same learning target, complete a recognition task (choose the best response) and a performance task (respond to a realistic scenario and justify it). Ask: what could an instructor confidently conclude from each?
Use five lenses: Purpose, Action, Context, Evidence, Criteria. Authentic student work isn't defined by format — it's whether the task produces evidence that fits the learning you actually care about.
Choose one existing assessment. Name the learning it should show, look at what the current task actually asks for, then make the smallest useful improvement — not a full redesign.
Trade revisions with a partner. What learning would this make visible? What would a student actually produce? Make one final revision, then choose a next move: use it, build it further, get feedback, or share it.
Flexible pathway
About 75–90 minutes total, flexibly scheduled — same outcome: revise one assessment to produce better evidence of the intended learning.
Complete a short recognition-vs-performance comparison on your own. Record what an instructor could confidently conclude from each.
Apply the five lenses to one existing assessment and identify one mismatch between the learning you value and the evidence students currently produce.
Use the Authentic Assessment Planner to revise the assessment — the smallest useful improvement, not a full redesign.
Share the revision with a peer or facilitator and make one more revision based on their answers to three questions.
Toolbox
No session needed — work through this in about ten minutes.
See it
Instead of only: "Which of these is the correct response?"
You might also ask: "Given this situation, what response would you recommend, what evidence matters most, and why?"
The second task makes selection, application, and reasoning visible — not just recall.
Try it — five lenses
- Purpose — what learning must become visible?
- Action — what must the student actually do?
- Context — does the task connect to meaningful use?
- Evidence — what will the student produce?
- Criteria — how will they know what quality looks like?
Use it
Check one or two, not everything:
- add a meaningful context or scenario
- ask for a decision or recommendation
- make reasoning visible
- add a real or realistic audience
- clarify the criteria for successful work
Keep it manageable: a stronger assessment is not automatically a larger one. Look for the smallest useful change that gives better evidence of student learning.
Authentic Assessment Planner
Use this with one assessment. Nothing here is saved or submitted — write directly in the boxes and print or screenshot your plan when you're done.
Across disciplines
Small changes can be authentic — you don't need a large project. Consider adding one layer to an existing task:
| Area | Possible student evidence |
|---|---|
| Health Sciences | Interpret a patient/client scenario and prioritize an appropriate response within scope, with rationale. |
| Business | Review operational or customer information and recommend an action to a defined stakeholder. |
| Computer / IT | Troubleshoot a realistic scenario, document the diagnosis, and justify the selected solution. |
| English / Communication | Create or revise communication for a specific audience and purpose, and explain key choices. |
| Math | Select and apply a method to a contextual problem and explain why the result makes sense. |
| Skilled Trades | Inspect a sample or specification, identify concerns, and recommend corrective action. |
| Early Childhood | Respond to a classroom scenario with an age-appropriate plan and rationale. |