Assessment plays a central role in your online course. It helps your students track progress, identify strengths, and improve in meaningful ways. It also ensures they meet your learning objectives. Use this resource to identify where your current assessments may rely too heavily on recall and redesign an assessment to be more practical, engaging, and career relevant.

What is authentic assessment?

According to Magda and Aslanian (2018), 74% of online learners are motivated by career advancement. They may be changing fields, building new skills, or meeting job requirements. That means your assessments should help them practice what they will actually do outside your course. 

When you use authentic assessment, you ask students to apply what they have learned to realistic situations. Instead of recalling information, they perform tasks that mirror real work. Wiggins (1998) explains that authentic assessments:

• Simulate real challenges and require students to actively use knowledge 
• Encourage judgment, creativity, and complex thinking 
• Allow for practice, feedback, and revision 
• Reflect real situations students may encounter after graduation

Example

In your course, this might look like: 

• Analyzing a case study instead of answering quiz questions 
• Creating a project proposal instead of writing a summary 
• Solving a real problem instead of selecting a correct answer 

For example, instead of asking business students to define market segmentation, you could ask them to analyze a company and propose a segmentation strategy. 

Why you might use authentic assessments

If your course relies heavily on traditional online practices such as quizzes, discussion posts that repeat content, or assignments focused on recall, students may focus on memorization rather than meaningful learning. Authentic assessment shifts that focus toward doing and applying, helping students engage more deeply with the material and use it in realistic ways.

Authentic assessments ask you to:

Build real skills by designing assignments that mirror workplace tasks. 

Example

In a healthcare course, ask students to create a patient care plan

Increase engagement by highlighting the relevance of an assignment.  

Example

Instead of asking students to write a generic essay, you might ask them to write a report addressed to a real audience such as a supervisor.

Support deeper learning by requiring students to think, decide, and create. 

Example

Present a messy, real-world scenario and ask students to choose and justify their approach instead of listing steps in a process 

Designing an authentic assessment

One of the easiest ways to start using authentic assessment is to revise assignments you already have. Instead of replacing everything, you can shift a traditional task into something more applied and realistic. 

If you want to revise an assignment for authenticity, try these steps:

1. Take an existing quiz, discussion, or essay  
2. Revisit the related learning objective and clarify what students should be able to do  
3. Ask yourself, “Where would someone use this skill in real work or life?”  
4. Turn that idea into a task, scenario, or problem for students to explore and respond to  
5. Define how you will evaluate the work by identifying clear criteria and sharing a rubric with students before they begin

You do not need to redesign your entire course. Even one authentic assessment can increase engagement and help students connect their learning to real-world practice. 

Here are a few side-by-side examples to help you see what the transformation from traditional to authentic might look like.

Traditional vs. Authentic Examples

Business or management

Traditional

Quiz on key terms such as market segmentation or organizational strategy

Authentic

Students analyze a real or fictional company, identify a target market, and justify their strategy in a short report or presentation

Healthcare or nursing

Traditional

Multiple-choice test on patient care procedures 

Authentic

Students review a patient case, develop a care plan, and explain their clinical decisions

Education

Traditional

Discussion post summarizing a teaching theory

Authentic

Students design a lesson plan that applies the theory and explain how they would use it in their classroom

Technology or IT

Traditional

Quiz on coding concepts or system definitions 

Authentic

Students troubleshoot a broken piece of code or design a simple solution to a real technical problem

General education

Traditional

Essay describing a concept or historical event

Authentic

Students take on a role such as analyst, consultant, or advisor and produce a deliverable such as a policy brief, recommendation report, or presentation

Challenges you should plan for

Authentic assessments are powerful, but they do require more planning. Here are a few things you can do to overcome any barriers. 

Break projects into smaller components. Students will need more time to complete complex tasks. You may also need more time to grade them.

Example

You might try: Breaking a project into smaller milestones and providing feedback along the way.

Support the unknowns. Some students are used to traditional tests and may feel unsure at first.

Example

You might try: Sharing a sample and explaining how the task connects to real-world skills.

Create transparent criteria. Because students produce varied work, grading can be less straightforward.

Example

You might try: Using a clearly defined rubric to discuss expectations with students before they start their task.  

When you use authentic assessment, you help students do more than learn content. You help them practice real skills in meaningful contexts. While these assessments take more time to design and grade, they often lead to deeper learning, stronger engagement, and better preparation for life beyond your course.

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References

• Magda, A. J., & Aslanian, C. B. (2018). Online college students 2018: Comprehensive data on demands and preferences. Louisville, KY: The Learning House, Inc. 
• Shank, P. (2009, May). Four typical online learning assessment mistakes. In R. Kelly (Ed.), Assessing online learning: Strategies, challenges and opportunities (pp. 4–6). Madison, WI: Magna Publications Inc. 
• Available from: https://www.facultyfocus.com/free-reports/assessing-online-learning-strategies-challenges-and-opportunities/ 
• University of Florida. (2018). Authentic assessment in online learning. Retrieved from: https://citt.it.ufl.edu/resources/course-development/assessing-student-learning/building-authentic-assessments/ 
• Wiggins, G. (1998). Education assessment: Designing assessments to inform and improve student performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.