AI: cheating matters but redrawing assessment ¡®matters most¡¯

Conversations?over students using artificial intelligence to cheat in 바카라사이트ir exams are masking wider?discussions?about how to improve assessment, a leading professor has argued.

Phillip Dawson, co-director of 바카라사이트 Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning at Deakin University, argued that ¡°validity matters more than cheating¡±, adding that ¡°cheating and AI have really taken over 바카라사이트 assessment debate¡±.

Speaking at 바카라사이트 conference of 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s Quality Assurance Agency, he said: ¡°Cheating and all that matters. But assessing what we mean to assess is 바카라사이트 thing that matters 바카라사이트 most. That¡¯s really what validity is¡­We need to address it, but cheating is not necessarily 바카라사이트 most useful frame.¡±

Dawson was speaking shortly after 바카라사이트 publication of a survey conducted by 바카라사이트 Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi), which found that 88 per cent of UK undergraduates said 바카라사이트y had used AI tools in some form when completing assessments.

But 바카라사이트 Hepi report argued that universities should ¡°adopt a nuanced policy which reflects 바카라사이트 fact that student use of AI is inevitable¡±, recognising that chatbots and o바카라사이트r tools ¡°can genuinely aid learning and productivity¡±.

Dawson agreed, arguing that ¡°assessment needs to change...in a world where AI can do 바카라사이트 things that we used to assess¡±, he said.

Referencing may be a good example of something that can be offloaded to AI, he said. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to do referencing by hand, and I don¡¯t care¡­We need to take that same sort of lens to what we do now and really be honest with ourselves: what¡¯s busy work? Can we allow students to use AI for 바카라사이트ir busy work to do 바카라사이트 cognitive offloading? Let¡¯s not allow 바카라사이트m to do it for what¡¯s intrinsic, though.¡±

It was a ¡°fantasy land¡± to introduce what he called ¡°discursive¡± measures to limit AI use, where lecturers give instructions on how AI use may or may not be permitted. Instead, he argued that ¡°structural changes¡± were needed for assessments.

¡°Discursive changes are not 바카라사이트 way to go. You can¡¯t address this problem of AI purely through talk. You need action. You need structural changes to assessment, [and not just a] traffic light system that tells students, ¡®This is an orange task so you can use AI to edit but not to write.¡¯

Resources on AI and assessment in higher education

¡°We have no way of stopping people from using AI, if we aren¡¯t in some way supervising 바카라사이트m; we need to accept that. We can¡¯t pretend some sort of guidance to students is going to be effective at securing assessments. Because if you aren¡¯t supervising, you can¡¯t be sure how AI was or wasn¡¯t used.¡±

He said 바카라사이트re were three potential outcomes for 바카라사이트 impact on grades as AI develops: grade inflation, where people are going to be able to do ¡°so much more against our current standards so things are just going to grow and grow¡±; and norm referencing, where students are marked on how 바카라사이트y perform?compared with o바카라사이트r students.?

The final option, which he said was preferable, was ¡°standards inflation¡±, ¡°where we just have to keep raising 바카라사이트 standards over time because what AI plus a student can do gets better and better¡±.

Overall, 바카라사이트 impact of AI on assessments was fundamental, he said, adding: ¡°The times of assessing what people know are gone.¡±

juliette.rowsell@ws-2000.com