Developing digital creativity through authentic assessment

Abstract

Digital creativity, the use of digital tools and technologies to explore creative ideas and new ways of displaying your ideas, research or work, is emerging as an important competency for graduates across many disciplines. The development of digital creativity competency in domains traditionally perceived as being less creative, including the accounting profession, has yet to be explored. This study reports on the use of an authentic assessment for learning to develop students’ digital creativity in an undergraduate competency-based accounting course. It documents the design and development of the assessment and analyses the students’ digital creative outputs as well as lived experiences. Although many of the outputs were at a lower level of digital creativity, most of the students appear to have experienced the process positively and gained insight into their course material and need for digital creativity in accounting. The design of the authentic assessment can inform the development of similar assessments in other disciplinary settings.