Suwichit (Sean) CHAIDAROON
Department of Communications and New Media, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS)
Chaidaroon, S. (2023). Making learning “real” in communication courses: Authentic assessments for communities [Lightning talk]. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, 7 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/making-learning-real-in-communication-courses-authentic-assessments-for-communities/
SUB-THEME
Communities and Education
KEYWORDS
Authentic assessments, significant learning experience, co-creational pedagogy
CATEGORY
Lightning Talks
ABSTRACT
One of the common challenges we are facing in university teaching is designing assessments that facilitate students’ learning. Traditional assessments may measure students’ cognitive knowledge well but they often fail to motivate students to engage in higher-order learning. Well-designed assessments not only motivate students to excel themselves in their studies, but also serve as a catalyst to foster significant learning experiences. This refers to is education that makes a difference in how students live their lives meaningfully by enhancing individual lives, social interactions with others, inculcating a civic mindset as well as a readiness for the world of work (Brackenbury, 2012; Fink, 2013).
In this Lightning Talk, the author shares his practices and reflection on authentic assessments he designed for the communication courses he has taught. Defined as learning tasks that allow students to apply competencies or combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes that they need in their professional lives, the assessments in three communication courses in particular will be discussed to illustrate the authentic assessment framework (Gulikers et al., 2004) as outlined below.
- In NMC5323 “Crisis Communications and Leadership”, one assessment was a press conference simulation where professional journalists were invited to participate and ask questions to students who role-play as spokespersons in crisis situations.
- In NMC5306 “Communications and Leadership”, students were asked to write thought leadership blog posts on their personal LinkedIn profiles. Please search #NMC5306 on LinkedIn for examples of students’ work.
- In NM3215 “Advertising Strategies” (later converted to NM4257 “Multiplatform Advertising Strategies”), students developed actual video and printed advertisements for local clients.
The author’s reflection highlights two key factors for the successful implementation of authentic assessments in his clases. First, the co-creational pedagogy, or student-centred teaching as some scholars may call this approach, should be adopted where students’ inputs are consistently taken through the facilitation and coaching process that the instructors will conduct (Hou & Chaidaroon, 2022). This co-creational pedagogy highlights the importance of the learning process as much as the product, allowing students to excel themselves in their studies. Second, there must be authentic audiences for students’ work as most traditional assessment deliverables, such as tests or essays, were solely read and assessed by the instructors. This is an opportunity for the local communities to be invited to serve as authentic audiences who may also benefit from students’ work.
Ultimately, the authentic assessments implemented by the author were proven to be meaningful teaching and learning experiences for the instructor, students, and the communities involved in all projects. They have proven to be good indicators for significant learning experience that students gain from attending university, which reflects students’ achievement not only in their studies but also in their development of a citizenry mindset.
REFERENCES
Brackenbury, T. (2012). A qualitative examination of connections between learner-centered teaching and past significant learning experiences. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 12(4), 12-28. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/josotl/article/view/3139
Fink, L. D. (2013). Creating significant learning experiences, revised and updated: An integrated approach to designing college courses. John Wiley & Sons.
Gulikers, J. T. M., Bastiaens, T. J. & Kirschner, P. A. (2004). A five-dimensional framework for authentic assessment. Educational Technology and Development, 52, 67–86. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02504676
Hou, J. Z., & Chaidaroon, S. S. (2022). A co-creational turn to online strategic communication education: Prospects and challenges. Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal, 24. https://www.pria.com.au/pria-newsroom/asia-pacific-public-relations-journal/apprj-volumes/volume-24/?fbclid=IwAR1qjBSnYHm7vn1Qqlp8KN1uuif2ZbqErNeW5yKO1gzoXBMysLlV8JsyIBw