Why authenticity matters: a qualitative investigation of students’ perceptions of personal values in first-year assessments

Abstract

ABSTRACT Authentic assessments in higher education typically imply the replication of real-world tasks. Psychological authenticity is the perceived alignment between an individual’s internal reference sources (i.e. personal values and beliefs) and their actions. Applying psychological authenticity logic to assessment tasks, we investigated students’ perceptions of scaffolded first-year assessment tasks on their health behaviour. In particular, we explored the meaning and value students associated with these tasks. One hundred students (86 female) completed an online open-text survey. Following our thematic analysis of the data, we constructed two higher-order themes. First, ‘the assessments were the catalyst for enabling self-reflection’ exemplified the opportunity students were afforded to reflect upon their current health behaviour. Second, ‘most changed for the better, but some stayed the same’ captured the dichotomy of student perceptions in completing the assessment tasks. Collectively, our findings offer new insights into authenticity in higher education assessment practices.