Design, implementation and evaluation of an authentic assessment experience in a pharmacy course: are students getting it?

Authentic assessment has been a focal strategy in higher education as a way to provide students with engaging and meaningful learning experiences in preparation for the real world work environments. Possibly due to the lack of consensus in the elements that outline that authenticity, limited amount of authentic learning experiences are reported and evaluated in the literature. This study aims to describe and evaluate the design and implementation of an authentic assessment in a pharmacy undergraduate course. A five-dimensional model for authentic instruction was utilized in the design of the learning experience. This was complemented with an eight-element framework that contributed to create an authentic assessment. Two surveys explored subjective authenticity as perceived by students and stakeholders. The results revealed that students find it hard to value their performance at the higher level that stakeholders do. While the use of models and frameworks in the design of authentic assessment is valuable, academics’ efforts need to be concentrated on further developing student’s metacognitive skills in order to provide relevancy and value to the knowledge, skills and attitudes developed in undergraduate tertiary education.