Keep it real: The benefits of authentic tasks in contemporary learning environments

What is it about?

This chapter from Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology responds to the failure of engaging learners when the world of education was catapulted nearly overnight into online remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. The resulting learning losses have raised awareness of the need for more evidence-based practices. The authentic learning design-principles introduced in this chapter are core to providing learner-centered experiences and the implication for design go beyond pandemic recovery. These tasks, which connect academic knowledge with real-world relevance, are essential for engaging students and deepening learning. The authors propose an expanded model of authentic learning that includes principles like learner agency, learner choice, and learner relevance. They illustrate these principles through a case study involving the redesign of a health science course, showcasing how authentic learning tasks can be implemented in practice. The case study introduces an expanded set of design principles through a course redesign so that readers can follow the transformation of a course that scores low in active learning to a course that affords learners multiple lines of inquiry into an academically complex task to develop their cognitive, social, and emotional capabilities simultaneously while also providing them with the opportunity for social connection which develops a belonging mindset.

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Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash

Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Authentic learning experiences  are important because they promise to take personalized learning to the highest level. Personalization is too often conceived as personalizing the learning path or learning pace for learners through the use of technology, but these automated approaches only address lower levels of outcomes. Authentic learning experiences make learning Learner-relevant. Fostering a mindset to prepare learners to succeed in an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) modern world requires learning experiences that are equally complex, real-world and learner relevant. When aiming to develop enduring human centered skills, then authentic learning experiences (as defined by the design principles) are needed.

Perspectives