Blog
AI and Ed: pitfalls but encouraging signs
In August I became hopeful that the hype around Generative AI was beginning to die down. Now I thought we might get a gap to do some serious research and thinking about the future role of AI in education. I was wrong! Come September and the outpourings on LinkedIn (though I can' really understand how such a boring social media site became the focus for these debates) grew daily. In part this may be because there has now been time for researchers to publish the results of projects actually using Gen AI, in part because the ethical issues continue to […]
The AI Assessment Scale
I don't know quite how I have managed to miss this up to now. The AI Assessment Scale (AIAS) has been around for over a year. On the occasion of updating to the latest version - see illustration above, Leon Furze, a Consultant, author and PhD candidate and one of the authors, said in his blog: The original AIAS and its subsequent formal version (published in JUTLP) represents a moment in time where educational institutions across the world were reaching for something to help with the immediate problems of AI, such as the perceived threat to academic integrity. Jason Lodge […]
Considerations for Curriculum and Assessment design
Drawing on the findings of the GENIAL project, which focused on how generative AI tools are used in practice by students in real time, Dorottya Sallai, Jon Cardoso-Silva and Marcos Barreto analyse how students use these tools differently across qualitative and quantitative subjects and offer recommendations for how educators can integrate these findings into their teaching and assessment plans in a blog article, To improve their courses, Educators should respond to how students actually use AI, on the London School of Economics website. They say their study suggests that students rely more on AI tools when they are struggling with […]
Homework Apocolypse?
November marks two years since the release of Open AI's GPT large language model chatbot. Since then AI, or more specifically Generative AI has dominated the discourse over the future of education. And of course it has spawned hundreds of project resulting in an increasing torrent of research results. Yet on one critical issue - does the use of AI improve learning - there appears little consensus. This is probably because we have no good ways of measuring learning. Instead we use performance in tests and exams as a proxy for learning. And its probably true to say that the […]
AI: What do teachers want?
A quick post in follow up to my article yesterday on the proposals by the UK Department for Education to commission tech companies to develop an AI app for teachers to save them time. The Algorithm - a newsletter from MIT Technology Review picked up on this today, saying "this year, more and more educational technology companies are pitching schools on a different use of AI. Rather than scrambling to tamp down the use of it in the classroom, these companies are coaching teachers how to use AI tools to cut down on time they spend on tasks like grading, providing […]
LLMs are a cultural technology
John Naughton writing in the Guardian says: Assessment in humanities in time of LLMs requires, "if not a change of heart, two changes of mindset. The first is an acceptance that LLMs – as the distinguished Berkeley psychologist Alison Gopnik puts it – are “cultural technologies”, like writing, print, libraries and internet search. In other words, they are tools for human augmentation, not replacement. Second, and more importantly perhaps, is a need to reinforce in students’ minds the importance of writing as a process."
GenAI and Assessment
As a recent publication from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya points out, Artificial Intelligence remains an opportunity (or an excuse) to transform assessment, curriculum, teaching, personalization and teaching competencies. This is especially so in relation to assessment with widespread concern in the academic world about the near impossibility of detecting whether or not a student has used generative AI in an assignment. The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya article explores the potential of continuous assessment aimed at self-regulation of learning. It suggests changing the assessment approach, moving from criteria focused on the assessment of the result to criteria focused on the […]
AI and Assessment
Maybe the panic over the impact of AI on assessment in education has died down a little, but it has been useful in that it has focused attention on the puropse of assessment and the pedagogic approaches to assessment. Simon Brookes, Executive Dean, Faculty of Creative & Cultural Industries, at the University of Portsmouth in the UK has started a new blog series on Rethinking Assessment in the Age of AI. His latest post features insights from the University of Melbourne's Centre for the Study of Higher Education. Their recent guide, "Rethinking Assessment in Response to AI" (pdf) offers a […]
Generative AI, Assessment and the Future of Jobs and Careers
Ten days ago, I was invited to make an online presentation as part of a series on AI for teachers and researchers in Kazakhstan. I talked with the organisers and they asked me if I could speak about AI and Assessment and AI and Careers. Two subjects seemed hard to me but I prepared presentation linking them together and somehow it made sense. The presentation was using a version of Zoom I had not seen before to enable interpretation. My slides were translated into Russian. This was a little stressful as I was changing the slides in Russian online and […]eAssessment and Generative AI
Yesterday I took part in an EDEN network webinar held as part of Open Education Week 2024 on Rethinking Digital Assessment in the Age of GenAI. This event aimed to provide educators with insights into redesigning digital assessment strategies to meet the challenges and potential posed by GenAI. Also, AI-specific competencies, defined within the AI Pioneers project, were to be be introduced as part of a supplement of the DigCompEdu framework developed by the AI Pioneers Erasmus+ project . The webinar was moderated by Giedrė Tamoliūnė, a lecturer and researcher at Education Academy, Vytautas Magnus University. Orna Farrell, an Associate […]Context is key to how we implement AI in teaching and learning
Here is the latest in our series of interviews with educators about Artificial Intelligence. About Arunangsu Chatterjee is Professor of Digital Health and Education in the School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Leeds. He is the Dean of Digital Transformation for the University, responsible for driving forward the delivery of the University’s Digital Transformation strategy, with a particular focus on leading change programmes and projects in digital education, digital research, and digital operations areas. He has academic responsibility for the development of relevant digital transformation programmes, securing academic buy-in to change initiatives and leading […]Transforming Vocational Education and Training: Harnessing the Power of Digital Assessment
Sad to say the eAssessment in Vocational Education and Training project, funded by the Erasmus+ programme and coordinated by Pontydsgu has come to an end. As far as we know it was the last Erasmus _ research and development project in the UK, with the end of June marking the end of the UKs involvement in the programme. The last piece of work undertaken in the project was to provide a Report and Policy Recommendations. The introduction to the report says how In recent years, the integration of digital technologies has revolutionised various sectors of society, and the field of […]Getting Digital Assessment Right
There is growing activity around eAssessment, largely driven it appears by concerns over AI and in particular Generative AI and large Language Models. On Thursday 15 June THE is holding a free webinar on the theme of 'Getting Digital Assessment Right.' Issues to be discussed, they say are" Register here for the Webinar.AI and Assessment
This podcast on AI and assessment was recorded for the Eramus+ eAssessment project. It forms part of an online course including four main sections: The course, hosted on the project Moodle site, is free of charge. Participants are welcome to follow the full course or can dip in and out of the sixteen different units. The podcast discusses the impact of Generative AI and advanced chatbots like ChatGPT and Bing on education and how they are changing the way we assess learning. Below is a transcript of the podcast. Scene 1 In late November 2022, OpenAI dropped ChatGPT, a chatbot that can generate well-structured […]Free MOOC on eAssessment
The Erasmus+ eAssessment project has launched its Massive Open Online Course and Community of Practice. Open to all, and free to participants, but with particular relevance to those working in vocational education and training, the course gives a comprehensive grounding in digital tools including AI, and how to use them for assessment and feedback. It comes at a particularity apposite time, with signs of panic in many institutions about the implications of ChatGPT and other Large Language Models for the future of traditional assessment practices. This course is also a community of practice. Somewhere you can ask questions, share ideas […]
eAssessment in VET course
Today the eAssessment project is launching its Massive Open Online Course and Community of Practice. Open to all but with particular relevance to those working in vocational education and training the course gives a comprehensive grounding in digital tools including AI, and how to use them for assessment and feedback. This course is also a community of practice. Somewhere you can ask questions, share ideas and resources and communicate with other like-minded educators. In the final section you will find a forum with discussion and reflection topics related to the course as well as a space to share resources, please […]Video Killed the Radio Star
Here's Graham Attwell exploring the impact of generative AI and advanced chatbots on assessment for learning.
This podcast is an excerpt from the eAssessment in VET course which is set to go live before the end of the month. Watch this space for furth...
More on Generative AI and education
It is hard to keep up with the avalanche of talks, posts, reports and so on about AI and education, sparked by Open AI's release of Chat GPT and then the many tools which have followed. Talking with teachers in different countries in Europe, I am impressed how many seem to have just quietly got on with it, accepting that AI is there and it is important that their students know how to use it properly and sensibly. Having said that, in Italy Chat GPT remains banned, as it is viewed by the government as being in conflict with the […]Scottish assessment to go digital
Education in Scotland is independent of the UK government in Westminster. And the Scottish government has launched an Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment in Scotland chaired by Professor Louise Haywood. The interim report was published in March 2023. It recommends: The development of enhanced digital infrastructure that will enable the use of digital assessments and will also support learners to gather and present their achievements consistently no matter the educational setting within which they are based. A greater focus on digital assessments will reflect learning itself and for many will link better with the reality of the world of work […]Public values are key to efficient education and research
For those of us who have been working on AI in Education it is a bit of a strange time. On the one hand it is not difficult any longer to interest policy makers, managers or teachers and trainers in AI. But on the other hand, at the moment AI seems to be conflated with the hype around Chat GPT. As one senior policy person said to me yesterday: "I hadn't even heard of Generative AI models until two weeks ago." And of course there's a loge more things happening or about to happen on not just the AI side […]