Authentic Assessment in Inauthentic Times: Finding Joy, Trust and Meaning in Assessment Relationships

by Dr Jan McArthur

Authentic assessment can mean many things to many people. It can be a deep commitment to a more just and purposeful form of assessment in these difficult times, or it can be an easy catch phrase – a buzzword – that gives the illusion of innovation, while actually changing very little. The popularity of authentic assessment as an idea is now colliding with our increased sense of uncertainty about the very nature of authenticity. With the rise of generative AI we have been challenged to reconsider – again – why we assess and what counts as legitimate knowledge and legitimate curation, use and engagement with knowledge.

In this session, I outline some theoretical foundations for the concept of authentic assessment, and argue that getting these foundations in place is essential if we are to meet the challenges of these increasingly strange, and quite possibly inauthentic, times. Such foundations rely on respect for the complex and contested knowledge at the heart of higher education, and respect for the importance of a socially-situated sense of achievement when we enable students to engage with this knowledge. While deeply challenging, such an approach can also be deeply rewarding and open up new understandings of assessment and student-staff relationships based on trust and joy, among many other things.

Far from being a naïve response to the challenges of our times, I will argue that approaching assessment in this way is deeply robust, meaningful and realistic – and moves us from the “jargon of authenticity” to the possibility of a lived reality.