University assessment and quality assurance

Strategies to improve university assessment for students and educators. Here, academics offer guidance on assessment design, covering formative, summative and diagnostic approaches, authentic assessment and how to give useful feedback. You will also find advice on exam preparation, ungrading, managing GenAI, preventing cheating and upholding academic integrity.

Young male student raising hand in class

‘Trust in their own judgement is something we cannot teach our students’

Students new to formal finance education need space to make mistakes and a learning environment that includes uncertainty, risk and emotions, writes Manjari Sharma

Manjari Sharma

Christ (Deemed to be University)

A student uses a laptop in a lecture hall

I start my lectures by introducing my teaching assistant: GenAI

Artificial intelligence is offering us an opportunity to give every student in the lecture hall the chance to think ideas through and truly understand. Let’s take it

Dan Sarofian-Butin

Merrimack College

A lecturer talking to a student about their work.

What ‘learning verification’ means in practice

When a student’s work sparks concerns over AI use, the best approach is to sit down with them and have a conversation to ascertain if they understand what they submitted, explains B. Jean Mandernach, who shares tips for doing this

B. Jean Mandernach

Grand Canyon University

A student and their lecturer in conversation.

Stop investigating, start teaching

Trying to detect whether a student has misused AI in their work is a wasted effort, from which no one benefits, writes B. Jean Mandernach. She proposes a different approach focused on finding out what students truly understand

B. Jean Mandernach

Grand Canyon University

A programmer reviewing code on her desktop

In programming education, AI does not remove the need for expertise

As GenAI reshapes the way students and professionals work with code, it changes the competencies educators should assess. Here’s what they could look like

Fatema Zaghloul

The University of Bristol

The best way to teach students to think critically about AI? Make them argue with it

Educators might treat AI as an integrity problem, but employers don’t. They need graduates who can decide when to trust the machine – and when not to. And that’s why you should design assessment that forces students to argue against AI

Reihaneh Bidar

The University of Queensland

Asian students articipating in small-group discussion

Practicalities of co-creation: how to truly engage the student voice

When educators share the design and implementation of course material and assessment rubrics, they give students a stake in their own and their peers’ learning

Shuhui Yin

Macau University of Science and Technology

Students in a lecture hall working on essays

Feedback is a skill to be taught, not assumed

Comments such as ‘This is a good essay’ might reassure but won’t help a writer improve. Here’s how to show students what strong and weak peer feedback looks like

Jiashi Wang

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

An illustration of a robot teaching a class about the human brain

Five tips for using AI in university assessment

Instead of trying to detect students using AI for their work, we need to think differently. Here’s where to start

Tom Oliver

University of Westminster

A student at his desk speaking to a professor

How to challenge problematic competence standards

We can make assessment fairer by learning how to spot issues with competence standards and supporting students to challenge them. Here’s how

Jess Jasper, Harriet Crooks

The University of East Anglia

A robot and a man in a business suit arm wrestle

‘If we make AI the enemy then surely it must become one’

How do we use GenAI without letting it use us? By mastering the tool, and helping students do so too, its much-feared effects on the humanities cannot come to pass, writes Stuart Christie

Stuart Christie

Hong Kong Baptist University

Defining and developing students’ critical AI literacy

By the time they arrive at university, most students are using AI. So, with the lines between AI use and original work increasingly blurred, academia now needs to teach them how to use the tools critically

Amy Allen, David Hicks

Virginia Tech

Concept of levelling up university assessment in response to GenAI

Assessing critical thinking in critical times

The advent of generative AI plus questions about the relevance of higher education call for a closer look at how critical thinking skills are taught and measured. Kate Williams offers ways to level up traditional assessment formats

Kate Williams

Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities

David Boud shares insights on feedback, assessment and learning

Campus Talks: How to create university assessments that serve learning

Learn what constitutes good feedback and how to get students actively engaged in learning from their assessments

David Boud, Miranda Prynne

Deakin University

A student sits an exam hall as her peers leave around her

The key to reducing exam anxiety? Better communication

Anxiety about assessment is leaving more students feeling overwhelmed. Ease the pressure with clarity, consistency and care

Apurav Krishna Koyande, Bhajan Lal Rahanu

Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP)

What new lecturers need to develop their teaching

Dialogic, developmental feedback can accelerate new lecturers’ confidence, pedagogic judgement and professional growth. Here’s how

Katherine Mansfield, Yaz Osho, Richard Paterson

University of Westminster

Young black woman and older woman working on logistics

Assessing students when artificial intelligence is ubiquitous

If we continue to prioritise memorisation in an age of wall-to-wall information, we send the wrong message to our students and employers. Michelle Seref offers advice on assessment that builds critical thinking skills

Michelle Seref

Virginia Tech

People hold up a picture frame to a classroom

Reframe assessment as part of learning

How to model assessment as a tool for learning as well as a method of evaluation, in a GenAI-enabled world

Campus contributors, Kiera O’Brien

Campus

How to start reimagining assessments authentically

What does authentic assessment really look like? Through real-world tasks, meaningful application and core knowledge and skills, it supports deeper learning and a more accurate measure of students’ understanding

Karen Bunch Franklin

Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities

‘Small changes in assessment design can make thinking visible’

Many concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on academic integrity and authorship have focused on controlling the tool rather than reconsidering the task, writes Nicole Brownlie. Here, she offers a shift to assess process, not just answers

Nicole Brownlie

The University of Southern Queensland

Close-up of hands flicking through flashcards

Flash cards work, but only when we teach students how to use them

Based on research comparing paper-based and digital tools, William J. Owen and Leah Chambers explain how flash cards can support learning and study skills development

William J. Owen , Leah Chambers

University of Northern British Columbia

GenAI has destroyed grading – and it’s made me a better instructor

Instead of a six-page research paper turned in at the end of a course, here’s how to focus on the real-time learning that happens between leaps of understanding and moments of doubt

Dan Sarofian-Butin

Merrimack College

Hand stopping a line of dominoes falling

When the business plan becomes a performance

Under conventional assessment models in entrepreneurship, continuation of a venture is rewarded and optimism reads as competence, write Ian Solway and Jolyon Nott. But students should be required to demonstrate judgement, not projected success

Ian Solway, Jolyon Nott

University of Southampton

A pair of scales showing a balance between a pile of books and an AI bot

GenAI has not broken assessment. It has exposed it

An assessment system that rewards polished work above judgement can’t function in a GenAI-enabled world. Here’s how to build one that can

Lucy Gill-Simmen

Royal Holloway, University of London

Man's hands over laptop keyboard with figures and speech bubbles

GenAI has turned teachers into auditors

When educators have to police how students use AI, and gatekeeping adds to the workload and emotional toll, teaching loses its joy, write Meena Jha and Amara Atif. Here are ways to reclaim the role of educator

Meena Jha, Amara Atif

Central Queensland University, University of Technology Sydney

Red-headed female student looking unhappy in an exam

How to redesign law exams for students with ADHD

Long closed-book examinations are at odds with how the brains of students with ADHD work, writes Malak Benslama-Dabdoub. Here, she explains how to create assessment that tests the target skills

Malak Benslama-Dabdoub

Royal Holloway, University of London

From theory to judgement: using role play to assess students’ decision-making skills

Students can explain theories. But can they challenge them? A structured role-play approach helps assess critical thinking, professional judgement and decision-making – skills that traditional assessments often miss

Angela Christidis

The University of Exeter

A female student on her laptop smiling to camera

Students are asking for AI guidance, not just policy

The defining educational challenge of this decade is to equip students to use AI ethically, critically and efficiently, write Mahmoud Elkhodr and Ergun Gide. Here, they offer a way forward

Mahmoud Elkhodr, Ergun Gide

Central Queensland University

Blocks showing man making path between bombs to idea

How to support students to learn from, with, about and beyond AI

Educators should not be competing with chatbots and large language models. Instead, a continuum can help them guide students from passive learning from AI to synthesising information alongside it

Tan Seng Chee

Nanyang Technological University

Assessment isn’t a finish line, it’s a learning process

Many assessments only measure what students already know. Here’s how to structure feedback-rich, iterative tasks to help students develop the skills to improve

Philip Y. Lam

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

An assessment tool to move HR students from theory to practice

HR students need the skills to deal with people. A simulated assessment tool could be the way forward – here’s how

Silvio Hofmann

University of the West of Scotland

Students in a lab listen to the instructor

Rethinking laboratory design for accessibility

Are lab assessments truly evaluating students’ scientific abilities – or simply their physical agility in an inflexible environment? Find out how to design more accessible biomedical laboratory practices

Mohamed Hussein, Yusra Idrees

Dubai Medical University

Students sitting in a circle on the floor with laptops

When plans meet people: navigating the friction of group assessment

Not all group work runs smoothly but educators can deal with disruptions more effectively if they have time- and situation-sensitive moves in their teaching repertoire. Here, Sarah Sholl and Stephen Yorkstone offer advice to stop group assessment falling apart

Sarah Sholl, Stephen Yorkstone

Edinburgh Napier University, Independent consultant

A student and an old man chat in a virtual surrounding

Using GenAI avatars to assess empathy: how it works in practice

Could GenAI offer a new way to assess communication skills? Here’s what happened when a university team built an avatar

May Lim, Caleb Or

Singapore Institute of Technology

An illustration of AI helping a student work

GenAI as a teaching colleague in assessment: a case study

GenAI can be a useful tool in assessment – if used intentionally. Find out what an intelligent dashboard can do for your students’ relationship to GenAI

Belén Pagone

Universidad Austral

A student sits in front of a laptop, covered in Post-It notes

Ten tips for embedding retrieval practice in university teaching

Despite the benefits of retrieval practice, students still tend to opt for more passive strategies. Here’s how to embed retrieval in your classroom to show them its power

Katy Burgess

Cardiff University

Students huddling between aisles in a library

What happens when we reframe accessibility as belonging?

When we treat accessibility as a core design principle, it strengthens learning for all students and supports staff in creating learning environments where difference is expected rather than managed, writes Angela Fitzgerald

Angela Fitzgerald

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

How business schools can produce globally minded graduates

Make internationalisation a core part of the student experience, rather than an optional extra, by embedding it into the curriculum

Imad Jabbouri

Al Akhawayn University

Conversations with bots: teaching students how – and when – to use GenAI for academic writing

A four-step process teaches students how to use GenAI tools to brainstorm ideas, understand and act on feedback and edit their essays in line with assessment rubrics

Joseph Tinsley, Huimin He

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Flight attendant demonstrating safety procedures against blue background

How storytelling can turn international students into the most powerful voices in the room

Turning presentations into a visual storytelling task allows international students to demonstrate their learning through elements such as sound, visuals, silence and pacing rather than just language

Natalie Cummins

University of Technology Sydney

Beyond bans: AI-resilient and creative HE assessment design

To sustain academic integrity in an AI-present learning environment, educators must redesign assessment to foreground judgement, context and creative ownership, says Jasmine Mohsen

Jasmine Mohsen

SP Jain London School of Management

A man sitting at a laptop concentrates hard on a document

A practical tool for valid assessments in the GenAI-enabled university

An assessment flowchart can help guide educators through the delicate balance of whether or not to allow GenAI in their assignment design. Here’s how it works

Rebecca Smith, Paul Moss, Sasikala Rathnappulige, Carina Correas

Adelaide University

Students smiling outside a university building

Students told us what GenAI guidance works. Here’s their advice

Students are using GenAI whether you’ve addressed it or not. Here’s how to provide the clarity they’re asking for

Tom Ritchie, Yanyan Li

The University of Warwick

Students working on a project together in class

Let professors play: the case for sandbox classes in HE

Some of the most powerful innovations in teaching don’t come from policy mandates – they come from freedom to play, writes Danny Oppenheimer

Danny Oppenheimer

Carnegie Mellon University

Young man looking stressed as his inbox explodes out of his screen

How to turn your most aggravating student emails into a chance to spread joy

Faced with a flurry of grade complaints at the end of each semester, Danny Oppenheimer found a way to respond that generated positivity for students and himself. Read on to find out what he did

Danny Oppenheimer

Carnegie Mellon University

How to make higher education assessments inclusive

When we design assessment with transparency, cultural awareness and inclusivity in mind, it becomes a tool for supporting learning rather than measuring it, writes Patrice Seuwou and explains how

Patrice Seuwou

University of Northampton

Use the five stages of grief to guide academic staff through AI adoption

As generative AI reshapes teaching and assessment, resistance is often as emotional as it is pedagogical. Drawing on Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ framework, Michael Mehmet and Rushana Khusainova offer advice for supporting staff through the realities of AI adoption

Michael Mehmet, Rushana Khusainova

The University of Bristol, University of Wollongong

A male student working on his laptop in the library

When GenAI makes answers cheap, assessment must value judgement

Generative AI has not broken assessment; it has exposed its weaknesses. Moving beyond bans and blind adoption requires redesigning assessment to reclaim pedagogical agency and make student judgement visible

Kisito F. Nzembayie

Trinity College Dublin

Why trauma-informed education could be a university’s smartest investment

Responding to struggling students with empathy and flexibility can benefit the whole campus. Here’s how to create a culture of compassion

Hind Lebdaoui

Al Akhawayn University

A teacher smiles as students raise their hands en masse

Maximise student satisfaction in creative education: part one

Disappointed with your National Student Survey satisfaction results? One teaching team turned theirs around with reflection and collaboration – here’s how

Kate Cotter , Elizabeth McLaughlin

University of the West of Scotland

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