Authentic assessment as a new approach to assessing experiential collaborative learning (ECL)

On a global scale, educational institutions are continuing to evolve the practice of teaching to provide the necessary skills and competencies for a modern world. There is widespread educational interest in adopting more experiential and collaboratively oriented pedagogies or what we term Experiential and Collaborative Learning (ECL). We use the term ECL as an overarching concept to capture a number of educational approaches or models, such as PBL, Inquiry-Based Learning or Reflective Practice-Based Learning. Despite the surge of interest in such educational approaches, assessment methods are still primarily based on a competitive and summative expression with a strong association to grading. Learning processes based on ECL are characterised by a responsive nature, which challenges the existing assessment methods. As learning processes change from something stationary to something that dynamically changes through analytical and reflective processes, it affects the way we assess learning outcomes. Therefore, there is a need for developing a new perspective on assessment activities to ensure that teaching methods applied for, e.g. PBL, are aligned with proper assessment methods. Also, the methods used for assessment can accommodate a focus on both process and elements of content. In this conceptual paper, we present a theoretical model for approaching authentic assessment with a specific focus on ECL based teaching.