Authentic tasks

An authentic task requires knowledge and skills to be used in a meaningful performance, rather than only answering questions that serve as indirect indicators of learning. Grant Wiggins connects authenticity with the ability to do the discipline: addressing problems, constraints and quality standards similar to those encountered in personal, civic or professional life.

Authenticity does not come simply from a realistic setting or story. A task becomes more authentic when it calls for judgement, selection of relevant knowledge, transfer, a product or performance, and the use of feedback to improve.

Design requires a clear problem, audience, expected product, conditions and criteria. A rubric can make criteria transparent, but cannot replace the quality of the task or the opportunity to revise the work.

Sources

Reference titles are retained in their original language. Linked resources may be in Italian or another language.

1. Grant Wiggins, Authenticity in assessment — Authentic Education
2. Renata Tardani, La mia scuola — Un anno alla Rinnovata Pizzigoni (2011)
3. Webinar FlipNet — compito autentico con V. Pancucci e M. Maglioni