Elements of Authentic Learning
Harrington, Reeves, and Oliver (2014) distilled the most common elements in authentic learning, which included:
- Real-world relevance
- Authentic tasks (more below)
- Access to expert thinking and modeling and performance
- Multiple roles and perspectives
- Collaborative construction of knowledge
- Reflection / meta-cognition
- Articulation (performance, presentation)
- Coaching and scaffolding
- Authentic, integrated assessment
Authentic Tasks
Going deeper in the task level, researchers have articulated the types of tasks that are rich in authenticity. These elements and task characteristics, when added to a course in some way, help to form a more authentic experience for learners. They are:
- Ill-defined problems
- Sustained investigations
- Integrated and applied across disciplines
- Integrated assessments
- Polished products
- Competing solutions and range of outcomes
Questions in Support of Authentic Structure and Tasks
As you think about how to potentially modify certain activities or course structure, consider the following guiding questions in support of authentic learning.
| Principle / Design Element |
Guiding Questions |
| Real-World Relevance |
- Does the task mirror the kind of task performed in real world applications?
- Are tasks and strategies relevant to other disciplines and broader knowledge?
- What task would make this topic or outcome relevant to the learner?
- How can I assess the learners prior knowledge and skills to scaffold understanding?
- How is this content useful or applied in the world?
- Does this content represent the worldview of the learner?
- What would be an example of this knowledge applied in the world?
- Note: many of these questions could be answered through a detailed context analysis and connections with industry partners.
|
| Ill-Defined Problems |
- Is the task presented as an overarching complex problem or as a series of small sub-steps?
- Can this outcome be framed around an existing problem that the learner investigates?
- Does this content lend itself for inquiry?
- How can this problem be framed around an investigation?
- How can significant community or world problems be integrated?
|
| Sustained Investigations |
- Do students work on the task for weeks rather than minutes or hours?
- Is this subject matter complex and would benefit from a sustained investigation?
- What are the goals for learning and how can inquiry be used to reach that goal?
- What will be the product of this investigation be?
- What diagnostic and formative activities will scaffold and sustain the investigation?
|
| Multiple Sources and Perspectives |
- Are students able to explore issues from different points of view?
- Are students able to use the learning resources and materials for multiple purposes?
- Are students able to choose information from a variety of inputs, including relevant and irrelevant sources?
- What kind of content is worth having learners spend their time learning?
- How can the content be organized around conceptual frameworks and ideas to make it more memorable?
- What primary/secondary resources exist that the learner can use to investigate this content?
- Does this subject lend itself for crowdsourcing of opinions, data, solutions to a problem?
- Does this subject benefit from role-based learning in order for learners to examining evidence, arguments, and claims from multiple perspectives?
- Who is being taught? What cultural lenses does the student have?
- What is being taught? What cultural lenses does the content have?
- Are learner and content lenses at odds with one another?
|
| Collaboration |
- Are students able to collaborate rather than simply cooperate on tasks?
- Does this outcomes lend itself to or benefit from collaboration?
- Does this outcome require that soft skills are fostered?
- Does this outcome touch on diversity issues and thus learners would benefit from working with others and hearing diverse perspectives?
|
| Reflection (metacognition) |
- Are students required to make decisions about how to complete the task?
- Are students able to move freely in the environment and return to any element to act upon reflection?
- Can students compare their thoughts and ideas to experts, teachers, guides, and to other students?
- Do students work in collaborative groups that enable discussion and social reflection?
- How can the learner connect what they already know with what they are learning?
- How can the learner track his learning?
- What stereotypes, misconceptions might exist around this subject that need to be dispelled?
|
| Interdisciplinary Perspectives |
- How does this outcome relate to other topics across disciplines?
- Would the lens of another discipline aid the understanding of this outcome?
- Does this subject matter / problem lend itself to be investigated across disciplines?
|
| Integrated Assessments |
- Are products or performances polished and refined rather than incomplete or rushed drafts?
- Do students participate in the activity for extended periods of time?
- Is the assessment of learning consistent with the goals?
- What type of project would allow the learner to investigate this subject matter?
- Can smaller (diagnostic and formative) learning activities be scaffolded into this larger assessment?
|
| Polished Products |
- What product can the learner create that demonstrates his understanding of this outcome and is realistic?
- Can developing a product around this outcome help the learner deepen her understanding around this topic?
- Is there opportunity to scaffold to the product and/or revise the work?
|
| Multiple Interpretations and Outcomes |
- Does this outcome encourage choice and application of unique approaches and diverse solutions?
- Does this outcome benefit from being explored from multiple perspectives?
- Are students able to submit a variety of artifacts to showcase learning?
- Are there multiple solutions possible?
|
Authentic Task Rubric
To better assess whether an activity or course structure is in line with these authentic learning principles, consider utilizing this rubric!
