Module 5: Designing Effective Assessments

On this page:

Scaffolded Assessments
Authentic and Powerful Assessments

This module is culminating in a focus on two approaches to designing your assessments: scaffolded and authentic. The examples on this page offer starting points as you consider opportunities to integrate diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments in your course.

Scaffolded Assessments

Assessments help instructors and students identify what and how much is learned and where strengths and areas of improvement lie. Diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments reinforce various forms of learning and can function as building blocks in alignment with learning outcomes. Such building blocks, known as scaffolding, are one strategy for engaging learners in meaningful assessment.

Scaffolded assessments break down large, complex, higher-stakes assessments into smaller, incremental, lower-stakes assessments as stages or building blocks. A scaffolded approach allows students opportunities to build towards a concept or skill before they are evaluated on the full application of the concept or skill. Scaffolded assessments help instructors improve instruction by revealing areas for clarification and opportunities for additional examples and support.

For students, scaffolded assessments provide opportunities to build toward a concept or skill, offer a clearer sense of purpose for each step of the process, and allow a more advanced application of concepts and skills through incremental stages.

For instructors, scaffolded assessments help instructors identify areas for clarification and opportunities for additional examples and support, which reduces misunderstanding (often shown in the high volume of questions and emails). More importantly, scaffolded assessments allow more complex and demanding assignments that do not overwhelm students. This approach promotes academic integrity by focusing on skills and knowledge development in engaging manageable portions.

Examples of Scaffolded Assessments

Each scaffold, or building block, can be a diagnostic, formative, or summative assessment. Such scaffolded design enables various forms of engagement, representation, and action and expression.

For example, a frequently scaffolded writing assignment might include a sequence of assignments (summary of one article, comparison of two, then analysis of three or more). Refer to additional assignment ideas from U of T writing supports. You may notice that these assignment prompts align with Bloom's Taxonomy.

The scaffolding examples below are a more detailed approach that can prepare students for a research paper and that reinforces the academic writing process, from prewriting to editing and proofreading. and invites students to engage with the learning process and develop their skills and knowledge. Note: Not all components of scaffolded assessments need to be assigned a grade. This list provides specific examples that align to Bloom's Taxonomy.

Scaffold 1: Draw a mind map (e.g., illustrations, graphics, timelines)

Scaffold 2: Draft a proposal that includes a working thesis statement

Scaffold 3: Prepare an annotated bibliography

Scaffold 4: Evaluate the sources in small peer groups

Scaffold 5: Create a paper outline

Scaffold 6: Conduct a peer review of a paper draft

Explore additional scaffolded assessments from High quality online courses:

Biodiversity and conservation science: Capstone project
Geography and environmental management: Group assignment

Getting Started with Scaffolded Assessments

Consider the following questions to help you get started with designing scaffolded assessments:

What is a major (higher-stakes) assessment you wish to scaffold in your course?
What prerequisite skills do students need to succeed in the major assessment?
How does the major assessment align with your learning outcomes? Are the prerequisite skills built into the learning outcomes?
What is the process for completing the major assessment? Can the process be broken down into smaller pieces to practice the prerequisite skills and support student learning trajectories?
How can the smaller pieces (the scaffolded lower-stakes assessments) be mapped out in the course schedule?
What resources and support are available to students for each scaffolded lower-stakes assessment?
How will you share your rationale about the design of the scaffolded assessments with your students?

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Authentic and Powerful Assessments

As mentioned earlier in the module, authentic assessments invite students to engage with meaningful, complex challenges and demonstrate acquired knowledge and skills in various forms (i.e., activities and artifacts) (Wiggins, 1990). These assessments invite students to engage in activities measuring their learning through applied, context-specific, real-world tasks and help learners transfer usable knowledge and skills and understand the "what" (representation), the "how" (action and expression), and the "why" (engagement) of their learning.

Grant P. Wiggins (1993) defines authentic assessment as "engaging and worthy problems or questions of importance, in which students must use knowledge to fashion performances effectively and creatively. The tasks are either replicas of or analogous to the kinds of problems faced by adult citizens and consumers or professionals in the field" (p. 229).

Geoff Scott (2016) uses the term "powerful assessments" to describe assessments that go beyond skills, knowledge, and competencies and encompass personal, interpersonal, and cognitive capabilities to foster work-ready-plus students. Watch CTSI's video featuring Scott addressing powerful assessments (06:57). Select "CC" for closed captions.

For students: According to Scott, powerful assessments train students to respond to real-world challenging situations and "wicked problems" and become "future-ready." Through powerful assessment, students become "sustainability literate," "inventive and creative," and become "change implementation savvy." Students are also able to understand and act on their own values, and are therefore able to contribute socially, culturally, and environmentally to their communities.

For instructors: Authentic and powerful assessments promote academic integrity because such assessments extend beyond traditional tests and exams, employing complex integration and application of knowledge and skills and engaging with cognitive processes such as applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating (e.g., case studies, exhibitions, and presentations).

Examples of Authentic and Powerful Assessments

Authentic and powerful assessments can take the form of diagnostic, formative, or summative assessments. Explore the various forms of authentic and powerful assessments from various disciplines listed below.

Computer science: Role-playing in paper-reading seminars (video, 47:11, UTORid login required)
Engineering: Alumni interview assignment (video, 05:23)
Statistics: "Explain it to me like I'm a …" (video, 05:06), Assignment Across Disciplines files
From High quality online courses:
- Creative expression and society: Ethical arguments in a real-world context
- Drama: Advocating for the arts
- Engineering: E-book project on sustainable cities for the future
- Mathematics: Authentic assessment in mathematics

Getting Started with Authentic and Powerful Assessments

Consider the following questions to help you get started with designing authentic and powerful assessments:

In what ways do my assessments engage learners in understanding the authenticity and relevance of the content?
How am I providing opportunities for learners to apply new knowledge to novel situations and authentic experiences?
How can the authentic and powerful assessment be scaffolded?
Are there opportunities for learners to collaborate in this assessment?
What instructions, parameters, and processes are provided for students engaging with the authentic and powerful assessment
What resources and support are available to students for engaging with the authentic and powerful assessment?
How will you share your rationale about the design of the authentic and powerful assessments with your students?

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University of Toronto, Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation