Reliability and Validity of Authentic Assessment in a Web Based Course

Web-based courses are promising in that they are effective and have the possibility of their instructional design being improved over time. However, the assessments of said courses are criticized in terms of their validity. This paper is an exploratory case study regarding the validity of the assessment system used in a semi presential web-based course. The course uses an authentic assessment system that includes online forums, online tests, self-evaluations, and the assessment of e-learner processes and products by a tutor, peers, and an expert. The validity of the system was checked using internal and external criteria. The results show that the authentic assessment system addresses technical problems, especially regarding reliability of instruments. Some suggestions are proposed to strengthen authentic assessment in web-based courses and to test it.