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Bretz and Brudzinski both explain they incorporate authentic assessment in their large classes through engaging with prior learning and incorporating low stakes, continuous or ongoing assessment. As Bretz explains:

"The basic principle is that human beings, in order to engage in meaningful learning, have to generate substantive connections between what they already know, and what they need to know. That sounds super simple, but that means you also have to have the ability to be cognizant of what you already know. So you have to bring to that a skill set for metacognition and thinking about your thinking."

Instructors need to identify a ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈ’s prior knowledge and help ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs be aware of this prior knowledge, often through low-stakes assignments or activities. For example, Bretz will have ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs answer a and then talk to a peer and compare their answers. Students are asked to defend and convince their answers to their partners, or if both partners have the same answers, to make sure the reasons are the same. And ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs do this several times in each of her class meetings, which can come as a surprise to ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs who are not used to being asked to talk about chemistry. By talking with each other, ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs are able to gauge their own thinking and also hear a different point of view. Bretz laughs and says that she’s had people poke their head in her classroom worried about the noise level, but that is what ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈ learning sounds like.

After identifying a ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈ’s prior knowledge, Bretz can respond in real-time to address gaps or misconceptions in their knowledge - not just keep marching through a pre-planned lecture. As she explains, “it's a really messy experience and it's essential to bring the ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈ as a partner into their learning, because my job is to facilitate them making those connections.” It’s through these connections that ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs start to think like chemists, instead of memorizing chemistry facts and equations.

For Brudzinski, authentic assessment includes learning by doing. By helping ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs identify gaps in their own learning and then providing opportunities for them to take steps to address the issue, Brudzinski lets ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs drive their own thinking and learning. One way he does this is through an online user forum where ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs can ask each other questions about a problem they are having. Since ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs come into his class with various levels of familiarity with programs and platforms, the user forum lets ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs seek help from their peers in a low-stakes environment.

As Brudzinski explains, he creates how-to’s and tutorials for ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs to use. He tells ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs, “Okay, you know you're stuck on this, you've never done this before...take a sidestep here and head over here [to the forum and] learn a little bit of how to do that task. Come on back, make sure it works when you do it this way.” This type of experience meets ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs where they are while also engaging them in active learning, even in a large or virtual classroom setting.

With this practice, ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs learn to take ownership of their own learning, a disposition Brudzinski wants ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs to take with them beyond their time in his class. He explains, ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs are “not going to have access to us when the semester is done” so ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs need to learn how to gauge their own learning and find resources or take steps to address the gaps in their knowledge.

By tinkering with tools like Microsoft Excel and then recognizing where they may need additional support, ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs are teaching themselves and each other within a supportive environment. Learning is recursive and often messy; however, when ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs are given the tools and space to think critically about their own learning, they are engaging in meaningful learning while learning by doing.

Bretz and Brudzinski both recognize ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs can struggle with engaging in authentic assessment, especially if they have excelled in programs or classes that rely on rote memorization. When asked how they help ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs transition to this type of learning environment, Brudzinski said he used to send letters to ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs to give them warning that the class may feel different than they are used to. Bretz also is explicit with ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs in the first class period, explaining that the learning ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs will be doing in this class is not just learning about chemistry, but also learning how to learn chemistry.

Often ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs will be concerned about points when they make mistakes, but both Bretz and Brudzinski talk to their ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs about how getting something wrong is a chance to reflect on their learning. Brudzinski structures his assignments to encourage ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs to learn from their mistakes. This includes only taking off “a third of the points when [¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs] get something wrong as a means to sort of help convey the message that it's okay to get something wrong the first time, as long as you learn from it...You may have to sort of learn as you go, but there are opportunities for you to get some repetition to get better at it.” Taking off a small percentage of points illustrates to ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs that learning and assessment are not one-and-done events, rather they are continuous processes.

Additionally, Bretz has switched to using open-note and open-book assessments for her large tests and assessments. While she’s gotten questions from colleagues about cheating and skyrocketing test scores, she says, “If you write questions that can be [searched online] then yes this will happen, but when you write questions that ask ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs to talk to you about the whys and the hows...those things aren’t easily [searchable]. Crafting questions in this way also allows her to “write more interesting authentic assessments of what my ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs know.” For example, Bretz can craft questions focusing on applying information, not simply regurgitating content. Bretz notes cheating is not a major concern for an assessment like this because in a timed exam, if a ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈ doesn’t know the content, they don’t have the time to find and learn the material for the first time before applying it. By incorporating open-notes and open-books, ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈs are given the chance to show their thinking instead of focusing on memorizing the material.