Abstract
Authentic assessment is widely recognized as an approach that connects learning with real-world contexts, enabling students to apply knowledge to practical challenges and prepare for future. In recent years, digital technologies have become an integral part of higher education, and educators are increasingly incorporating them into authentic assessment. Previous reviews, grounded in an understanding of authentic assessment as a means to prepare students for workplace readiness, have examined how digital technologies shape authentic assessment design and the rationales for adoption. However, the findings of these reviews remain largely conceptual, offering limited empirical evidence on why and how educators use digital tools in practices, leaving the role of digital technology in authentic assessment unclear. Without such understanding, technology use in authentic assessment risks being unsupported by evidence, limiting its potential benefits.
This thesis therefore aims to unveil the role of digital technology in authentic assessment from teachers’ perspective. It is underpinned by an understanding of authenticity as a multidimensional, perception-based, and non-binary construct, rather than equating authenticity with workplace fidelity. To achieve the aim, it adopts a sequential exploratory mixed-methods design. A systematic literature review first established the status quo of technology use in authentic assessment by identifying the range of tools employed across different assessment phases. Building on this, an interview study explored why and how expert educators adopted digital technologies in particular ways, yielding four pedagogical roles of technology: enhancing disciplinary learning, fostering workplace readiness, supporting personal development, and enhancing assessment delivery. Finally, drawing on these roles and practices, a large-scale survey study developed and validated the Technology Use in Authentic Assessment (TUAA) instrument, confirming the four roles identified in the interviews and enabling systematic measurement of these technological practices across a broader population of university educators.
The findings from this research have theoretical contributions and practical implications. From a theoretical perspective, this research reframes and validates the construct of assessment authenticity as multidimensional, perception-based, and non-binary when digital technology is incorporated, identifies how educators enact it through digital technologies, establishes TUAA as a distinct construct, and delivers a validated instrument that operationalises this construct for future research. From a practical perspective, the validated instrument and empirically grounded insights offer multiple applications. They enable educators and professional development providers to reflect on, evaluate, and strengthen authenticity in diverse technology-mediated assessments. They also guide institutions in shaping policies that help educators initiate and continually refine their technological practices. Finally, they provide direction for technology developers to create platforms that reflect the dynamic and multidimensional nature of TUAA.