Roundtable Assessment: Making the Portfolio Experience More Meaningful

Abstract

Changing teaching and learning practices demand that alternatives to traditional assessment be considered. As more emphasis is placed on higher-order thinking skills in learning situations students need to be given more opportunities to demonstrate these skills. Assessment tasks must allow students to integrate and produce knowledge and activities undertaken by students must have value beyond the evaluation process. Authentic assessment allows students' learning to be assessed at the same time as the learning is taking place (Hill 2003). Authentic tasks, along with unambiguous expectations and choice and flexibility, are what tertiary students value most in assessment (James, McInnis & Devlin 2002). By considering various definitions and phrases from experts, Burke (1999) identified six key elements of authentic assessment (see Figure 1). First, the tasks given in authentic assessment are meaningful to non-school situations. Such tasks allow students to learn to excel. Second, the standards and criteria used in the assessment are clearly articulated. Third, the products and performances allow students to exhibit quality work. Fourth, learning and thinking skills are encouraged in the tasks. Higher-order thinking skills such as those involved in problem solving are an integral part of the assessment tasks. Fifth, the learning that is being assessed is transferable to situations after the assessment. Finally, authentic assessment allows a positive interaction between the assessor and the person being assessed. Offering pre-service teachers the opportunity to create a professional portfolio is an authentic task that allows reflection on learning in relation to teaching standards and selection of evidence for inclusion that best demonstrates competence. Portfolios may be viewed as just collections of work but a portfolio experience can be made authentic when the creator is expected to reflect on his or her experiences and engage in self-assessment and goal-setting (Mueller 2003). Requiring that the portfolio be produced electronically value-adds to the experience by demonstrating computer skills and by producing a portfolio that is more easily shared and updated.