Authentic learning does not just mean ‘make it like real world activity’ (though that point is important). Rather, authentic learning demands a complex array of decisions which a teacher must take to ensure that learning ‘speaks to’ the student and serves to promote a knowledge-work partnership between teachers and students, de-emphasising where possible the arbitrary or teacherly authority of the educator over the student
For a full account, see: Authentic Assessment and the Internet (Allen, 2009) as well as The full paper is “Risks and Opportunities in Authentic Learning via the Internet“, presented to the National Curriculum Innovation and Quality Forum, 2010.
Authentic learning is not just limited to assessment, but is most often considered in those terms. Authentic assessment is a jargon phrase, but useful. It implies that authenticity is generated out of the degree of perceived relevance of the assessment task to the real-world context which it mimics, or prepares students for. Authenticity of this kind appears ‘more’ authoritative than the lecturer / educational institution’s authority because of this connection. However, there is a lot more to authentic assessment than at first might meet the eye. My paper “Authentic Assessment and the Internet: Contributions within Knowledge Networks” provides a much more detailed analysis of authenticity, especially focusing on the need for assessments to be authentic to the lifeworld of students that is, increasingly, a knowledge networked-oriented world.
Authenticity is, however, at the heart of knowledge networking: the technologies and applications which we call “web 2.0″ ultimately serve to connect students more closely with the real world of knowledge networks and its extensive possibilities. The following presentation gives some ideas and possibilities:
Further reading
Herrington’s work on authentic learning can be easily followed at Authentic assessment of authentic tasks, with much more in Herrington, J. et al. (2010). A Guide to Authentic E-Learning , London: Routledge. Herrington, Oliver and Reeves also maintain site on authentic learning.
See also Scholtz (2007). An analysis of the impact of an authentic assessment strategy on student performance in a technology-mediated constructivist classroom. International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology 3.4: 42-53.
