University assessment and quality assurance

Insight on 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. 

Students sit an exam in a classroom

Test students’ understanding, not their memory

Exams have become more about students’ ability to recall answers to questions asked in past papers rather than testing their understanding of the knowledge they gained. Here’s how to challenge their cognitive ability instead

Apurav Krishna Koyande

Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP)

Nursing students in class

Case-based discussion as an authentic healthcare assessment method

Case-based discussion has been well received as an assessment method. Here are other reasons to use it, along with tips on how to make it work well

Multiple authors

The University of East Anglia

A robot hand types at a laptop

What happens when AI writes the appeal

As students increasingly use generative AI to craft assessment appeals, university staff face new challenges in maintaining the integrity of academic feedback. Here’s how we can adapt to preserve meaningful learning relationships in the face of optimisation

Jonathan Boymal

RMIT University

A doctor takes notes on a clipboard

Build better doctors with programmatic assessment

Programmatic assessment offers a better way to train doctors, making them more resilient and giving them the tools to manage their own professional development. Gozie Offiah explains how it works

Gozie Offiah

RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences

A student presenting to class

AI-proof project-based assessments by making them context-specific

Project-based assessments rooted in real-world, institution-specific contexts help reduce over-reliance on GenAI by emphasising collaboration, oral defence and critical thinking. Learn how to design one effectively

Oliver Jarvest , Ying Zhou, Simon Sheridan

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Group of students in a classroom

‘This is going to hurt’: taking the pain out of group assessment

Group assessment can be seen as unfair and unwieldy, but it also teaches essential skills such as teamwork and collaboration. We owe it to our students to frame it in a way that allows them to see its benefits

Sarah Sholl, Stephen Yorkstone

Edinburgh Napier University

University professor teaching with laptop

Flip-Zoom-open: how Covid and AI transformed my classroom

Maybe the uncertainty of the pandemic resulted in a few positives to university teaching? Here, Perry Binder reflects on lockdown’s seismic shifts

Perry Binder

Georgia State University

A finger follows text in a book written in question marks

How to support students with dyslexia in your teaching

Students dealing with dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties may struggle in the classroom more than their peers. With their number increasing, here’s how to give them the space they need to learn

María Catalina Bolaños Dubos

Universidad Austral

Spotlight guide: AI and assessment

AI and assessment in higher education

Threat or opportunity? Advice for using, managing and embedding artificial intelligence in university assessment, skills development and task design

Campus contributors

Campus

Students discussing a group project in class

How I teach students to assess each other’s work

Peer marking helps students build valuable skills and reflect on their own work. Here’s how to make the process smooth and effective

Anirudha Poria

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Using AI for university assessment

When GenAI resets the assessment baseline

Generative AI is forcing university educators to raise their own bar on creativity, assessment and expectations. Here’s how one teacher reassessed their assignment

Chris Jones

Regent's University London

Traders at their computers celebrating

What on-the-job training looks like in the classroom for MBA students

Examples of authentic assessment methods for MBA students that align academic goals with dynamic real-world demands and equip students with job-ready skills

Harini K N

Manipal Academy of Higher Education

Three images - one thumbs up, one down and one in the middle

How to encourage peer review in online courses

A framework and practical strategies to train students to provide constructive peer feedback that improves learning outcomes

Jie Zhang, Steven Bateman, Qing Ye

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Should we kill the essay?

Should we kill the essay?

Long-form writing seems to have become a battleground for the showdown between AI and academic integrity. With technology exposing the essay’s flaws, Luke Zaphir offers ways to reinforce this storied assessment task

Luke Zaphir

The University of Queensland

Chameleon illustrating change

Reshaping assessment to outsmart AI

Adapting common assessment types can not only deter the overuse of AI – and avoid administration overload – but support student learning in a more authentic and engaging manner

Rebecca Mace, Viktoria Magne, Sarah Hooper, Sharon Vince

University of Worcester, University of West London

A hand writes on a pad

How to build competency-based assessment into a clinical supervision course

Changes in Singapore’s healthcare sector meant health professionals needed extra skills for the workplace. Here’s how a clinical supervision certificate helped them learn on the job

Heidi Tan, Celestine Seet

Singapore Institute of Technology

Illustration of a sustainable city

Poster approaches to embedding real-world learning into coursework

A data visualisation task can support students’ problem-solving and critical thinking skills as well as give context to themes around sustainability. Here’s how to put it into practice

Lisa Winstanley

Nanyang Technological University

A teacher smiling to camera holding a student's paper

How to talk to students about their writing

Verbal feedback can encourage students to think critically and independently about their language learning and improve future work. These tips explain how to put the method into practice

Lulu Jin

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

One on one language coaching

The power of a 30-minute meeting

One-to-one coaching sessions with students are an ideal forum to share individualised feedback, advice for academic and professional growth, and ways to build learner self-efficacy and confidence. Here’s how they support student success in a global classroom

R. Katherine Samford, Kendall Nelson

Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities

AI accuracy concept

How to enhance the accuracy of GenAI models

Generative AI seems to offer ways to provide individualised feedback to large cohorts but can these models be relied on to give students accurate, relevant responses? Here are three approaches for educators to try

Nazim Ali, Sarah Aynsley, Linda Becker

Keele University, Bochum University of Applied Sciences

College student hiding face under book, exam stress

Beyond exam panic: rethinking the purpose of assessments

If students frame assessments in terms of stress, not learning, this raises the question: are universities evaluating students’ growth or simply their ability to perform under pressure?

Rahim Somani

University of Northern British Columbia

Asian woman drinking coffee at laptop

Tips for successful asynchronous teaching: supporting students, part two

As the most remote form of teaching, asynchronous courses require well-managed communication so students stay on-board and engaged – and understand all the requirements

Figen Mekik

Grand Valley State University

A young woman sits in front of a laptop, holding a smartphone and making notes on a pad

Rethink authentic assessment for the generative AI era

How can we integrate AI into authentic assessment? Consider inspiring a collaborative spirit, aligning technology with pedagogy and modelling a new mindset for your students

Nadya Shaznay Patel

Singapore Institute of Technology

podcast graphic

THE podcast: the tricky relationship between assessment and learning

Hear three US academic experts discuss what role assessment should play in higher education and how it can be improved

Susan D. Blum, Catherine Wehlburg, Josh Eyler

University of Notre Dame, Athens State University, University of Mississippi

Diamond held in tweezers

When essay feedback does more harm than good

Tired of asking for more scope, depth and flow with no improvement in students’ writing? Maybe the problem is not the students but your feedback

Alice Stinetorf

University of Southampton

Young Asian woman looking tired at laptop

‘We shouldn’t sleepwalk into a “tech knows best” approach to university teaching’

As GenAI is used by almost nine in 10 students, these practical strategies help educators to rethink assessment and integrate AI as a collaborative tool in academic work

Rebecca Mace, Viktoria Magne, Sarah Hooper, Sharon Vince

University of Worcester, University of West London

A teacher designing an infographic on her laptop

Canva and ChatGPT for feedback and academic support

Don’t bore your students with lengthy, written feedback. Here are ways to make it more visually appealing and how to use custom GPTs to offer extra academic support

Mariana Elizondo, Eunice Costilla Cruz

Monterrey Institute of Technology

Measurement concept illustration

Assessment or measurement?

Authentic assessments and measurements serve distinct purposes in understanding student success in higher education. Here’s why equating the two can undermine the depth and quality of student learning

Heather Strine-Patterson

Virginia Tech

A computer programming student working on her laptop

Authentic assessment design for computer programming master’s courses

A four-step plan for more meaningful assessment that incorporates AI-assisted evaluation, group discussions and presentations

Thomas Selig, Ling Wang

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

A young woman takes a deep breath at a laptop

Is authentic assessment leaving some students behind?

Does a more authentic assessment for some students mean an inauthentic experience for others? Here’s how to address this by adopting a student-focused lens

Sue Sharpe, Jennifer Z Sun

Australian National University, University of Sydney

A robot hand ticking check boxes on a piece of paper

Get students on board with AI for marking and feedback

AI can potentially augment feedback and marking, but we need to trial it first. Here is a blueprint for using enhanced feedback generation systems and gaining trust

Isabel Fischer

The University of Warwick

Multiracial group of young people

Unlocking minority students’ potential with an asset model approach

How can we tackle the gaps in attainment and outcomes between racialised ethnic minority and white students? This resource shares best practice based on running positive interventions for black and South Asian students

Hemisha Harji, Gemma Francis

Loughborough University

Students working on a project

Improving assessments through industry collaboration

How to build and maintain industry relationships and coordinate effective project-based assessments for MBA students

Maninder Singh

Manipal Academy of Higher Education

A student delivering a presentation

Three alternative assessments that build managerial skills

Personal development discussions, presentations and peer coaching help build essential communication skills and emotional intelligence. These tips will make them effective

Michelle Civile, Alison Sydenham, Julie Pepper

The University of Exeter

Asian student concentrating on laptop

Voice, agency and style: what goes missing when AI chats back

We need to teach that imperfect but authentic writing is more valuable than sentences that are polished on the surface, argue three US academics. Here, they share surprise findings from STEM and beyond

Qian Du, Daniel M. Gross, Patrick Hong

University of California, Irvine

People sat around a table slotting cogs together

How can we assess interdisciplinarity?

Effectively assessing interdisciplinarity involves encouraging students to ask the right questions and critically evaluating the quality of the knowledge created, explains Simon Scott

Simon Scott

University of Birmingham

A small toy robot works at a notebook with a laptop open

The evolution of assignments in the age of generative AI

Instead of cracking down on AI use for written assignments, we just need to make our assessment smarter

Miriam Wun

Singapore Institute of Technology

A teacher giving a student feedback

The power of effective feedback for early-career educators

How can assessors improve educators’ ability to give feedback that influences students’ motivation, engagement and achievement?

Jennie Fox

The University of Exeter

A magic lamp with a speech bubble

The AI genie is out of the bottle – now what?

Generative AI is here to stay, so let’s build AI literacy, incorporate AI into assessment and craft solid policies for its use

Aida Nuranova, Timothy Wawn

Nazarbayev University

Hands pointing to pie chart

Authentic assessment in postgraduate statistics courses

Using anonymous student data for assessment tasks enhances engagement with learning, fosters practical skill development and makes business and economics concepts more memorable

Temesgen Kifle

The University of Queensland

An academic using AI tools in her research

Here are seven AI tools you should be using for your teaching and research

AI can assist with idea generation, data analysis and mind-mapping, among others. Here are some tools that should be on any academic’s radar

Natalie K. D. Seedan

The University of the West Indies

Male student concentrating at laptop

The case for rewarding hard work in higher education

Taking a cue from copyright’s ‘sweat of the brow’, Ian Solway and Shan Wang argue that recognition of effort and resilience should not be lost in a rush to maximise learning efficiency

Shan Wang, Ian Solway

University of Southampton

Someone proofreads a document

Proofreading is a life skill – let’s treat it like one

Universities shouldn’t assume their students know what proofreading is and how to do it. Here’s how to create a more inclusive learning environment – by listening to students

Sandie Dann, Kit Messinger

Loughborough University

A student studying at his desk

Assessing the GenAI process, not the output

A framework for building AI literacy in a literature-review-type assessment

Paul McDermott, Leoni Palmer , Rosemary Norton

The University of East Anglia

Students work together using a laptop and calculator

Three ways professional certifications can boost student outcomes

Professional certifications not only align students’ skills with real-world industry demands but can also lead to unexpected improvements in academic outcomes. Ekaterina Ipatova shares how her students responded to this innovative mode of assessment

Ekaterina Ipatova

University of Roehampton

Male online student

As students become more ‘distant’, can feedback still hit the mark?

Whether they are behind a computer screen or behind bars, all students need support with making effective use of feedback – whether or not the process is a two-way street

Robert Nash, Kieran Balloo

National Institute of Teaching, The University of Southern Queensland

Students in an exam hall being assessed

We have to rethink academic integrity in a ‘post-plagiarism era’

What is the future of plagiarism as a concept in the AI age and what are the implications for academic integrity? This resource seeks to answer these questions, among others

Karen Kenny

The University of Exeter

Robot giving a star rating

Will AI revolutionise marking?

Artificial intelligence has the potential to improve speed, consistency and detail in feedback for educators grading students’ assignments, writes Rohim Mohammed. Here he lists the pros and cons based on his experience

Rohim Mohammed

University College Birmingham

A pair of legs following an arrow on asphalt

Using directional reflection to stimulate students’ evaluative thinking

Many students struggle to understand and engage with the concepts and practices associated with reflection. This is where directional reflection comes in

Simon Brownhill

The University of Bristol

Question marks

‘Generic prompts give students autonomy and flexibility to expand their ideas’

Leaving space for students to bring their prior knowledge and experience to a question can help with comprehension in STEM courses

Karen Ho, Douglas B. Clark

Mount Royal University, University of Calgary