Authentic Assessment & AI

How can you AI-proof your assignments? In this blog post, we’ll explore how you can use authentic assessment to not only discourage cheating but also encourage real-world, expert-level application of new skills and knowledge that could have meaningful, lasting impacts on your students.

Let’s start with an essential question: What can professionals in your field do that beginners cannot? Advanced students certainly know things that other students probably don’t, but they can also do more with that knowledge. When I teach undergraduate poetry, my best students can certainly identify examples of iambic pentameter, but they can also appraise whether the old da dum da dum da dum da dum da dum rhythm supports or undermines the effectiveness of a poem. The technical vocabulary is an entry point to more interesting conversations. What are the interesting conversations in your field? What abilities do students unlock by actively working with knowledge in your discipline?

Now, let’s ask instead what can professionals in your field do that generative AI cannot? If, for example, I ask ChatGPT to analyze a poem, I will get an essentially competent list of relevant literary devices. Fifteen years ago, as an inexperienced teacher, I asked students to write such essays, which students regularly plagiarized. This assignment aimed too low; less stressful, less grading-intensive activities can tell me whether students are learning the vocabulary. Do published authors, literary scholars, or educated readers spend their days identifying alliteration or listing metaphors? No. They master the fundamentals so they can write, argue, and enjoy language at the highest levels of their abilities.

Are your grading methods aligned with your teaching priorities? For low-level practice, consider assigning frequent, low-stakes formative assessments that reward growth without punishing failure. This kind of grading limits the incentive to copy and paste answers from a chatbot (or the Internet or a friend). For your major assignments, ask yourself what authentic assessment looks like in your discipline. Chatbots frequently lack continuity and context in their outputs, so explore multi-part case studies, community research, and other high-impact experiences that can’t be easily condensed into a chat prompt.

With authentic assessment, you can create assignments that are interesting to you, valuable to your students, and a poor fit for the capabilities of generative AI. No single teaching technique can solve every challenge you face as an instructor, but CETLOE is here to help you maximize the tools at your disposal. If you’d like to learn more about teaching in the age of AI, be sure to check out our AI in Teaching & Learning workshop series. Our recorded kickoff event examined syllabus statements, academic integrity, an AI-powered grading assistant, and using chatbots to jumpstart your teaching. Next month, we’ll be demonstrating GSU’s Microsoft Copilot Enterprise chatbot and showing you how to test your assignments against the machine. We hope to see you there, so please register for September’s workshop today!