“…the correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting” (Plutarch).
Assessment in the face of AI continues to be such a huge concern. This article suggests assessment has been flawed from the beginning and relying on the most convenient approach. That approach is now obsolete as the result of AI.
Instead, put effort into finding evidence that learning has occurred….
instead of trying to find evidence to prove that cheating has occurred in the production of an artifact, teachers can now turn their energies towards finding evidence that learning has occurred or, more importantly, that it hasn’t.
This article by Professor Cath Ellis leaves me asking, “How exactly are you suggesting that evidence be found?”
A commenter (Francois Stalder) has a similar problem, writing:
These are valuable insights on looking for evidence of learning, however we need to move beyond discussions about the topic and propose concrete solutions.
For example, in world languages, focusing on practical methods like oral proficiency interviews and peer review sessions can significantly enhance learning.
Additionally, using conversation clubs, storytelling sessions, writing journals, and collaborative writing projects ensures continuous, practical application of the language.
Those points are a bit more practical. They suggest that the way forward with assessing student learning isn’t about tests and work student can in digital formats. Rather it is in just in time conversations, handwritten notes and scribbles in dialogue with an educator.
That is a fundamental disruption of how assessment has been conducted. With AI, anyone can fake the artifacts, the essays, the researched expressions. More difficult, the just in time conversation and dialogue in handwritten work. But the work of teaching becomes infinitely harder, time-consuming.
As a person who crafts adult learning, my emphasis is on curating content and offering exercises that offers a choice to adult learners. That choice?
If you want to learn, do the work. If you want the badge or certificate, view the content but skip the work. The choice to learn is always yours.
With K-16 learners, the choice is taken away by adults who don’t trust young people will make the right decision. But mandatory schooling does not ensure learning…humans have to make their choices, and one of them is to decide to learn.
Somehow, children have to decide to learn in spite of AI. For me, the kindling of a fire, offering a choice to students is where it’s at. Less so finding the evidence. Less at AI detection.
Maybe, I have another think coming.