Authentic assessment targeting sustainability outcomes: a case study exploring student perceptions

Rana Asgarova is a Senior Tutor at the School of Psychology in Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She is interested in how people make decisions about risky outcomes in contexts where they can learn from the repeated experience of these outcomes and why we sometimes make non-optimal decisions.

Anne Macaskill is a Lecturer in Behaviour Analysis at the School of Psychology in Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. The over-arching theme of her research is: why, when they have options, do people sometimes fail to choose the alternative with the best long-term outcome for themselves? Anne focuses on understanding how decision-making and learning processes combine with environmental events to shape such non-optimal choices. Anne’s research has particular focuses on slot-machine gambling, choices about uncertain outcomes and student success.

Wokje Abrahamse is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences in Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Wokje is an environmental psychologist, and her research focuses on the human dimensions of environmental change. Wokje applies psychological theories to better understand the barriers and enablers of engagement in environmentally friendly behaviours, such as attitudes, social norms and habits. Wokje also examines the effectiveness of interventions (for example, information campaigns, commitment making, feedback provision) to encourage the adoption of environmentally friendly behaviours, such as energy conservation and travel mode choice.