A Handy Chart on Traditional Vs Authentic Assessment

October 22, 2014
Today I spent sometime reading this white paper from Educause Learning Initiative entitled "Making the Grade:The Role of Assessment in Authentic Learning". While the paper discusses at length the the concept of assessment and its relation to students learning, I particularly found the chart in page 6, see below, of particular interest. It captures the essential differences between two models of assessment : Traditional Assessment model (TA) and Authentic Assessment model.

I am pretty sure  that, knowingly or not, we have all tried these models intermittently  in our own teaching practice. However,  talking about them explicitly and highlighting the key points of each of them will definitely help you better understand how to incorporate them constructively in your instruction. To this end I am inviting you to have a look at the chart. I would also recommend that you read the whole White paper PDF (16 pages long) as it is really so insightful and also provides a  goldmine of resources and links for further research into authentic assessment.

Source: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli3019.pdf