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2 references
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- Vol 5 RE: Chapter 12
e-portfoliosauthentic assessmentreflective practicestudent ownershipassessment frameworksdigital accessdistance educationJournal article Evidence summaryAt a glance
Mudau explores how four lecturers at a South African open-distance university understand e-portfolios as an alternative form of assessment. Using qualitative interviews and thematic analysis, the study reports that lecturers saw e-portfolios as supporting student-centred and authentic assessment: learners can assemble evidence over time, reflect on progress, demonstrate varied competencies, and take greater ownership of learning.
Key ideas
Participants also identified practical barriers, including limited lecturer and student knowledge, technology and connectivity constraints, workload, inconsistent implementation, and a lack of an agreed assessment framework. Consequently, the tool’s potential was not fully realised merely by making a platform available. The author recommends early training and a structured institutional framework to guide design and evaluation. The very small, context-specific sample means the findings illuminate perceptions rather than establish effects on achievement or validity.
Why it matters
For educators, the paper highlights that successful portfolio assessment requires clear purposes, criteria, scaffolding, technical support, feedback processes, and attention to equitable access.
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- Vol 5 RE: Chapter 9
authentic assessmentperformance assessmentassessment rubricsanalytic rubricsholistic rubricsself-assessmenttransfer of knowledgeWebsite Evidence summaryAt a glance
Mueller's online toolbox guides educators through the design of authentic assessment, defined as asking students to perform meaningful real-world tasks that demonstrate application of essential knowledge and skills. It contrasts direct evidence from performances and products with conventional selected-response testing, while recognizing that both can serve different purposes.
Key ideas
The design process begins by identifying standards or valued outcomes, then creating a task that elicits those outcomes, specifying criteria for good performance, and constructing a rubric that communicates levels of quality. The resource explains analytic and holistic rubrics, offers templates and examples across disciplines, and encourages involving students in interpreting or developing criteria. Authentic tasks can increase relevance, reveal complex understanding, and support self-assessment, but they require careful alignment, feasible administration, and reliable judgment. The toolbox treats assessment as part of learning rather than merely final measurement: clear criteria and feedback help students monitor progress, revise work, and transfer knowledge.
Why it matters
Its examples make an abstract assessment philosophy usable for course and program design.
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Edition abbreviations
- TE
- Teacher Edition
- PE
- Practice Edition
- RE
- Research Edition
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References are checked against publisher records, scholarly indexes, DOI or ISBN metadata, repositories and author records where available. An entry marked [Citation not verified] preserves the wording found in the relevant volume without attributing findings to an unconfirmed work.
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