Authentic assessment designs most commonly target knowledge construction and 21st-century skills, with digital literacy rarely addressed¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Among the reviewed studies, 29 assessed knowledge construction, 22 assessed professional skills, and 29 assessed 21st-century skills, with critical thinking (n = 17), communication (n = 13) and problem-solving (n = 7) the top three; only five studies focused on digital literacy. → Ying Zhan 2025

Evidence¶

Ying Zhan 2025¶

Ying Zhan, David Boud, Zilu Du. (2025). Designing for authentic assessment: a scoping review. Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-025-01588-9

q2 · i? · review · r2

Coding of cognitive challenges across the 37 included studies. The review reports 'Twenty-nine studies assessed students’ 21st -century skills', lists the skill set, and separately notes only five studies focused on enhancing students' digital literacy in AA design.

"Twenty-nine studies assessed students’ 21st -century skills, which include critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, communication, creative thinking, digital literacy, time management, leadership, reflection, and decision-making skills."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Authentic assessment designs in higher education predominantly replicate professional workplace scenarios, with few addressing social authenticity — related
• Formative feedback dominates authentic assessment designs while sustainable feedback is rare — related
• Social collaboration in authentic assessment is mostly peer- and teacher-based, with few connections to industry or community partners and rare equitable teacher-student collaboration — related
• Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making appear in all seven reviewed frameworks — related
• The review reports that role-playing exercises significantly enhanced students' 21st-century skills including communication, collaboration, and critical thinking — related
• The Key Stage 3 ICT assessment has more potential than CWRA and PISA to measure the full range of 21st century capabilities — related
• Students overwhelmingly value critical media analysis skills but report these skills were rarely addressed in their coursework — related