How do you create real-world assessments?

1 Define the purpose

Before you create a real-world assessment, you need to define the purpose of the assessment and how it relates to your learning outcomes. What do you want your students to learn and demonstrate? How will the assessment measure their achievement of the learning outcomes? How will the assessment feedback inform your teaching and their learning? By clarifying the purpose of the assessment, you can align it with your curriculum and ensure that it is meaningful and relevant for your students.

2 Choose the format

Real-world assessments can take various formats, such as projects, portfolios, simulations, case studies, presentations, or performances. The format you choose should match the purpose of the assessment and the nature of the content and skills you want to assess. For example, if you want to assess your students' ability to conduct research and present their findings, you might choose a project or a portfolio format. If you want to assess your students' ability to apply their knowledge and skills to a realistic scenario, you might choose a simulation or a case study format.

3 Design the task

The task is the heart of the real-world assessment and should be clear, concise, and engaging for your students. Moreover, it should be challenging enough to require higher-order thinking skills, such as analysis, synthesis, evaluation, or creation. To design the task, consider the context, criteria, constraints, and collaboration. The context should be situated in a realistic and relevant context that connects to your students' interests, experiences, or future goals. For example, if teaching a business course, ask your students to create a marketing plan for a new product or service. Additionally, the task should have explicit and transparent criteria that specify what your students need to do and how they will be evaluated. You can use rubrics, checklists, or exemplars to communicate the criteria to your students and provide them with guidance and feedback. Furthermore, the task should have realistic and appropriate constraints that limit the scope and complexity of the task. Finally, the task should encourage collaboration among your students if applicable by designing it as a group or peer assessment where your students work together or review each other's work. You can also provide opportunities for your students to interact with external stakeholders such as experts, clients, or community members.

4 Implement the assessment

When you have designed the task, you must implement the assessment in your course. This includes preparing your students, providing support and feedback, and managing the logistics. To do this, you should introduce the assessment to your students and explain its purpose, format, task, criteria, and expectations. You should also scaffold their learning and give them resources and examples to complete the task. Additionally, you need to monitor their progress and provide formative and summative feedback with various tools and strategies. Moreover, you must plan and organize the submission, grading, and feedback processes of the assessment. Furthermore, you must ensure academic integrity and quality assurance of the assessment by using technologies such as learning management systems or plagiarism detection tools.

5 Evaluate the assessment

The final step is to evaluate the assessment and reflect on its effectiveness and impact. To do this, you need to collect and analyze data from various sources, such as students, yourself, or colleagues. You can use surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, or analytics to gather information. When evaluating the assessment, consider questions such as how well it aligned with learning outcomes and curriculum, how well it measured knowledge and skills, how well it engaged and motivated students, how well feedback enhanced learning and development, and how well it supported teaching and professional growth. By analyzing the assessment in this way, you can identify its strengths and weaknesses and make informed decisions for improvement. Additionally, you can share your findings with other instructors or stakeholders and contribute to the scholarship of teaching and learning.