This paper examines three interventions in three professional programmes in higher education in Europe. The aim of the study is to evaluate the implementation of three learning scenarios that use authentic learning theory to improve professional competence and students’ employability skills. The data come from an Erasmus+ project involving three countries and 120 students. A design-based research approach is used for the first iteration of interventions. The results show how the authentic learning framework was realised in the three contexts and which elements of the framework were challenging. The key findings are that authenticity is not realised in one element of the model in isolation, but through the interaction between several elements, and that some elements of the theoretical model are crucial for realising others.

This study adopts a design-based research approach that frames the research design of the study (McKennie & Reeves, 2019; van den Akker et al., 2006). This approach is defined by its intention to develop theoretical insights and practitioner solutions to real problems identified in educational contexts. The research design of this study is more specifically an evaluation study within the field of design research (Plomp, 2013). In this study, the educational challenge is how learning is achieved in real life and how students in HE settings learn theoretical, decontextualised knowledge. The intention of this study is to design learning environments in order to validate authentic learning theories (Herrington et al., 2010; Plomp, 2013) and how learning environments can be designed in three different professional HE contexts in Europe. The methodological steps follow the iteration of the systematic design cycles (Plomp, 2013). The problem to be solved is making HE settings more relevant and able to better prepare students for the transition from education to workplace. The study is based on the Erasmus+ Skill Up project’s analysis, which resulted in the development of a taxonomy of employability skills required for new graduates (Ornellas et al., 2019). With its point of departure in interventions using state-of-the-art practices and different theoretical frameworks, the Erasmus+ Skill Up project designed a prototype (here called a ‘learning scenario’) in a professional HE course in Spain, Germany and Sweden. In total, 120 students took part in the three different courses. The focus of this study is on the evaluation of the three learning scenarios in the first iteration cycle. The evaluation is based on the three courses’ syllabuses and documentation about the implementation of the learning scenario. The focus of the analysis is on how the theoretical framework of authentic learning (Herrington et al., 2010) was used in order to design an authentic learning scenario where the students got the opportunity to learn in a more contextualised real-life environment. The analysis is deductively performed (Bingham & Witkowsky, 2022), with the point of departure in the nine characteristics of authentic learning (Herrington et al., 2010.)

This study shows the importance of the dynamic interactions (Barab et al., 2000) and relations between the different elements of the authentic learning model (Herrington et al., 2010), and some of these elements seem to be of high importance for others. For the next iteration of the three contexts, it would be wise to focus on three elements – two of which seem to be crucial – since the interaction between the elements was shown to be key. The first element that can be improved is the authentic context, which has implications both for authentic activities and multiple roles and perspectives. The second crucial element to be improved is collaboration, which has implications for both reflection and articulation. Thirdly, the element of assessment can also be improved, which has implications for the element of articulation but is essential in order to reflect a real-world assessment. Further detailed studies are recommended on the interactions between the different elements of the model in order to promote employability skills and increase the quality of HE settings.

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