Designing Authentic Learning Experiences

While Singapore's education system is highly regarded globally, we believe there's room for improvement in supporting our students. In addition to acquiring knowledge and excelling in exams, it is crucial for students to understand the purpose of their education and develop curiosity and passion for learning.

Authentic Learning is an instructional approach that focuses on real-world experiences and meaningful activities relevant to students' lives. It can be implemented in various ways. Wherever feasible, we encourage educators to provide students with relevant real-life examples; encourage them to reason, debate, and make sense of abstract ideas; or immerse students in environments where they actively contribute to the creation of prototypes or solutions for problems posed by industries, government ministries, or non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

A substantial number of courses at NTU have already incorporated aspects of Authentic Learning. To showcase and share the best practices of Authentic Learning across different disciplines, we are currently developing a repository of exemplary Authentic Learning activities that can serve as a valuable resource for our faculty.


ECL Urban farming workshop
Students working on an urban farm project.
Equipping students with the necessary skills to thrive

 

World Economic Forum Education 4.0 Taxonomy
The World Economic Forum’s Education 4.0 framework

 

Authentic learning aligns closely with the World Economic Forum’s Education 4.0 framework, which aims to prepare students with a set of skills, attitudes and values for success in their lives and careers, thus developing their uniquely human qualities which are not easily replaced by technology. It is important that we strengthen collaboration with alumni, industries, and research entities to stay current and relevant in educational strategies and real-world problems.