ABSTRACT
Authentic assessment involves students producing products that demonstrate what they have learned. Middle and secondary social studies teachers who find themselves in classrooms equipped with technology are well positioned to have students participate in authentic assessment. Drake and Horatio Nelson have written a great deal about the need to increase historical understanding when students participate in authentic assessment. They have developed a three-tiered model that middle and secondary social studies teachers can implement when they design authentic assessment projects using technology. The communication dimension is the final component to historical understanding when students participate in authentic assessment. The Virtual Warrensburg project enabled freshmen students to investigate local history and produce Internet webpages on their findings. Students who participate in the National History Day event have the opportunity to produce a digital video with their computer that demonstrates their historical thinking and understanding about the subject matter.
