Are we assessing students appropriately for the 21st century world in which they will live and work?

Abstract

This presentation will explore the 21st century skills and capabilities that our students will need as they live and work in a world dominated by ubiquitous technology as well as increasing uncertainty and complexity. Our assessment practices will need to change; we cannot continue to give students static content-based assessment tasks that ignore the contextual consequences of working in a complex environment with many stakeholders. We will need to expand our repertoire of assessment tasks to include a more sophisticated use of virtual spaces that allow students to construct their responses with access to whatever resources are required to make a meaningful response to a meaningful problem. Students should be required to identify their decision making processes when proposing a solution to a real life problem and to identify all the stakeholders impacted by this response. Students will need to be provided with more authentic, meaningful tasks that will engage them in using the full range of capabilities they have developed during their learning. We will examine some of the implications of this new educational environment and reflect on our current assessment practices in relation to the requirements of this brave new world.