The Case for Authentic Student Assessment in Distance Digital Pharmacy Education

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Distance online assessment is facing serious challenges. This opinion piece discusses these challenges and focuses on potential authentic assessment methods that can be used effectively in distance digital pharmacy education. The authentic assessment methods discussed are case studies, role-play, discussion panels and debates, student e-portfolios, computer-based simulation, diagrams and graphical presentations. These methods allow assessment to drive learning by performing tasks that are related to real professional situations and challenges followed by quantitative and qualitative feedback. Authentic assessment will require the development of clear rubrics to maintain transparency, consistency and fair evaluation of student achievement. The implementation of online assessment involves some challenges such as the level of institutional, faculty and student's technological capacity. Financial burden on low-to-medium income families and some institutions, meaningful training on the software and hardware, and students' compliance with the code of ethics and academic honesty are major issues. That said, well-planned authentic assessment tools can overcome many of these challenges. As these methods amass momentum, more creativity and innovation in assessment will be introduced, enriching and facilitating digital pharmacy education. The author calls for utilizing more formative feedback and reflection methods, focusing on demonstrating learning and professional competencies rather than on superficial letter grades.