Keele Research Repository

Authentic assessment is increasingly prized in all tiers of education. In order to inform and facilitate the design of such an assessment strategy a number of authors propose criteria or models of design that the educator can apply to their particular programme. In a review of the Level 4 module ‘The Foundations of Radiographic Science’ the current assessment strategy was found to test recollection and knowledge, but not to meet the criteria for an authentic approach. A revised assessment strategy was designed following the model proposed by the 2018 systematic review of Villarroel et al. This newly designed strategy was then appraised and subsequently refined by application of other published criteria. Following this approach, the design was thus enhanced by elements of realism and evaluative judgement. The resulting proposed assessment strategy was finally reviewed according to the VARCS model (Valid, Authentic, Reliable, Current, Sufficient), in particular as embedded in the ‘Keele Assessment Principles’. This material was originally developed as a video presentation for an (authentic) assessment on a programme developing Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. It is offered in this original format as an illustration of the benefits of an authentic approach, with an accompanying narrative written from a personal perspective.