Authentic assessment to prepare students for employability skills

Employability has become one of the biggest concerns of higher education institutions (Osborne, Dunne & Farrand, 2013). Some authors believe that there should be a focus on bridging the gap between real world and higher education through changing the curriculum towards a more practical, work-related emphasis (Gulikers, Bastiaens & Kirschner, 2004; Wilson, 2012). Essential to this process is assessment as it influences what is taught and measures and supports students' learning (Griffith University n.d.). However, traditional forms of assessment such as examinations with multiple-choice questions which test students on rote learning are not suitable to foster deep surface learning. An authentic assessment as defined by Gulikers, Bastiaens and Kirschner (2004, p. 69), is "an assessment requiring students to use the same competencies, or combinations of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, that they need to apply in the criterion situation on professional life". Changing the assessment setting to a more "authentic" one is introduced as an improved way to embed elements of employability into the curriculum. Despite its current high graduate employability rate, RMIT Vietnam has started the process of following this trend. This paper introduces the implementation of RMIT Vietnam‟s institution wide initiative to move towards more authentic assessments and in particular to remove all final examinations for all courses by the end of 2018. Aiming to provide students with an enhanced learning experience, RMIT Vietnam is going through a structured process of collecting and analyzing data about current issues with assessments for existing programs; developing supplemental resources for designing authentic assessments; organizing a community of practice for academic staff to share their experiences and collaborating between teaching teams and academic developers to redesign specific courses‟ assessments