This document discusses improving student engagement through authentic assessment. It begins with an introduction and agenda, then defines assessment and authentic assessment. Part one discusses the goals and types of assessment, including formative vs summative. Part two outlines the steps to develop a well aligned authentic assessment strategy, including identifying outcomes, skills, appropriate assessments, and rubrics. Part three discusses how the Canvas learning management system can help with assessment through features like quizzes, discussions, assignments and rubrics. The document provides resources for learning more about authentic assessment.

1. Improving Student Engagement
Through Authentic Assessment!
March 15, 2018
Kelley L. Meeusen, Clover Park Technical College, Lakewood WA

2. Agenda
Introduction
Part One – Assessment of Learning
Part Two – Steps to Develop a Well Aligned “Authentic”
Assessment Strategy
Part Three – How can Canvas help?
Q&A

3. Introductions
• Who the heck is this guy,
• What the heck is he talking about, and
• Why should we care?

4. Poll 1
How many of you already use authentic assessments?
• Raise your hand in the participant panel to answer the question.

5. Student Quote
“I never thought I could learn so much!”

6. Part One
Assessment of Learning

7. Assessment
Assessments are any tool or process used to measure learner achievement
of stated learning outcomes or objectives.
Authentic Assessment
• A form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate
meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills -- Jon Mueller
• Engaging and worthy problems or questions of importance, in which students must use knowledge
to fashion performances effectively and creatively. The tasks are either replicas of or analogous to
the kinds of problems faced by adult citizens and consumers or professionals in the field. -- Grant
Wiggins -- (Wiggins, 1993, p. 229).
• Performance assessments call upon the examinee to demonstrate specific skills and competencies,
that is, to apply the skills and knowledge they have mastered. -- Richard J. Stiggins -- (Stiggins, 1987,
p. 34).

8. Authentic Assessment
My definition……………
• Any assessment activity that asks learners to
demonstrate that they know or can do what the
stated learning outcomes tell them they should
know or be able to do. Can be both
• Formative, or
• Summative

9. What does Authentic Assessment
look like?
“An authentic assessment usually includes a task for students
to perform and a rubric by which their performance on the
task will be evaluated.”
The Authentic Assessment Toolbox, Copyright 2016, Jon Mueller. Professor of Psychology,
North Central College, Naperville, IL.
It looks like whatever activity you have students engage in
that provides them an opportunity to demonstrate their
achievement of the stated learning outcomes.

10. Defining Attributes of Authentic
Assessment
• Performing a task
• Real-life
• Construction or application
• Student centered
• Direct Evidence

11. Formative vs. Summative Assessment
Formative assessment is used by learners for self-
measurement of achievement; and by teachers to
• measure learning and
• measure effectiveness of instruction and instructional materials
and activities.
Summative assessment is used for determining a grade,
Is there really a difference?

12. Goals of Assessments
• Help students learn and demonstrate their learning,
• To measure learner achievement of the stated learning
outcomes, and measure it for students, Teachers and
other stakeholders,
• Help faculty determine grades and improve curriculum
and instructional delivery, and
• Satisfy internal and external stakeholders.

13. Poll 2
How many of you depend on, or are required to use,
high-stakes assessments?
• Raise your hand in the participant panel to answer the question.

14. What Activities Can Be Considered
Assessments
• Tests, quizzes and exams oh my!
• Discussion forums, blogs, social media;
• Any assignment, homework, worksheets, etc.,
• Any writing activity from grammatical diagramming, to full-blown
essays, short stories to doctoral dissertations;
• Coding a program, restoring a car, repairing a television, injecting a
medicine, styling hair, welding a pipe together, recording audio or video,
performing an interview, capstone projects, group work etc. etc. etc.!
EVERYTHING that can and does measure student achievement!

15. Poll 3
How many of you understand the concept of curriculum
alignment?
• Raise your hand in the participant panel to answer the question.

16. The Power of Alignment
All course components work together to support achievement
of stated learning outcomes, and all assessments measure
achievement of those learning outcomes.

17. Summary of Part One
• Assessments are any tool or process used to measure learner achievement of
stated learning outcomes or objectives,
• Authentic assessments are any assessment that asks learners to demonstrate that
they know or can do what the stated learning outcomes tell them they should
know or be able to do,
• All assessments can be authentic and all assessments can be both formative and
summative, and
• All curriculum must be well aligned in order for our assessment strategy to be
effective, and
• Students are better engaged when they know what they are learning and are
assessed on what they were told they will learn!

18. Part Two
Steps To Develop A Well Aligned “Authentic”
Assessment Strategy

19. The Steps
Step 1 – Identify the Desired Outcomes,
Step 2 - Identify the Skill and/or Knowledge Sets that Comprise the
Outcome,
Step 3 - Identify the Appropriate Assessment Strategy,
Step 4 - Develop the Assessment(s) or Tasks,
Step 5 – Develop a Grading Rubric (if assessment is a task,
assignment, demonstration, etc.)

20. One Way to Do This
Outcome or Objective Knowledge Skills Assessment Strategy
Develop constructively
aligned assessment
strategies that accurately
measure student
achievement of the stated
outcomes.
1. Understanding of
constructive alignment
2. Properties of an
authentic assessment
3. Properties of an
traditional assessment
4. Understanding of the
outcomes for which the
strategy is being
developed
5. Ability to define the
skills and knowledge
components of an
outcome
6. Application of
knowledge base to
development of an
assessment strategy and
assessments
Items 1 - 3: use a
combination of one or
more traditional
assessments (TA) or
authentic assessments to
demonstrate that
students have a usable
understanding of the
necessary knowledge to
achieve the objective.
Items 4 - 6 Assess skills by
asking students to outline
an assessment strategy
and develop one or more
assessments.

21. Some General Strategies
• Define assessment for your students,
• Generally, if it isn’t stated in a learning outcomes don’t measure it,
• Use frequent and varied assessments,
• Offer assessment choices,
• Use authentic assessments,
• Include lots of formative opportunities,
• Alignment, alignment, alignment

22. More General Strategies
Write questions that test skills other than recall. This list works up the pyramid of
Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy!
• Measure Knowledge (common terms, facts, principles, procedures),
• Measure Comprehension (understanding of facts and principles, interpretation of material),
• Measure Application (solving problems, applying concepts and principles to new situations),
• Measure Analysis (recognition of unstated assumptions or logical fallacies, ability to distinguish
between facts and inferences),
• Measure Evaluation (Learner compares something to a standard to determine which is worse,
equal, better, or best.),
• Measure Creation (Learner uses learned knowledge to create entirely new idea or system)
Use all of the above to prepare students for high-stakes assessments!

23. Part Three
How Can Canvas Help?

24. Canvas Quizzes
• Offer a wide variety of assessment item types,
• Permit the attachment of a grading rubric to the essay item
type,
• Permit the development of “Practice Quizzes”,
• Permit multiple attempts,
• Provide the ability to moderate the quiz for a variety of
purposes including accommodation for disability.

25. Canvas Discussions
Never under-estimate the value of online discussions
as an assessment tool for higher level learning!
Both formative and summative!

26. Canvas Assignments
Now here is a tool for authentic assessment!

27. Canvas Grading Rubrics
How about a couple great examples?

28. QUESTIONS?

29. Additional Resources
The Authentic Assessment Toolbox
• http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/index.htm
Canvas Guides – Rubrics
• https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-
10460#jive_content_id_rubrics
Ask me! I love to talk about assessment!
• kelley.meeusen@cptc.edu