https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z79NrkkI2wY
In a context marked by the expansion of artificial intelligence, rethinking assessment has become an unavoidable task. From this perspective, Dr. Anna Espasa, a professor at the Open University of Catalonia (Spain), emphasized the importance of promoting assessment practices that are more formative, inclusive, and focused on learning processes.
The interview took place during her visit to Uruguay to participate in in-person activities for the project “Strengthening Teachers’ Digital Skills in Secondary Education for Artificial Intelligence-Mediated Assessment,” in which she serves as a visiting professor.
This initiative received funding from the Education Sector Fund, under the “Digital Inclusion” program—sponsored by the National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII) and the Ceibal Foundation.
Developed by the Institute of Education at Universidad ORT Uruguay, the project aims to strengthen the digital skills of secondary school teachers at the María Espínola schools, particularly with regard to technology- and artificial intelligence-supported assessment.
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What are the key elements of assessment that make it a formative process and promote student learning?
One of the key elements of formative assessment is feedback, which should be provided throughout the teaching and learning process so that students know what they have done well, where they have made mistakes, and how they can improve.
Another key factor in ensuring that students make use of feedback is that it must be actionable. In other words, they need to read it, understand it, make sense of it, take action, and improve. And, finally, that improvement must be assessable by the teacher.
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What misconceptions exist today about assessment and feedback?
There is one related to exams. A lot of time, effort, and grading goes into them, even though that is precisely one of the areas that could be improved.
In addition to that, another issue is the weight given to grades, which is a reality. When we were in school, we had grades, but the weight placed on this form of assessment is excessive. That would be another misconception associated with assessment.
Assessment for the sake of evaluation is not necessary; rather, the key is assessment for the sake of learning.
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If you were given a magic wand to make all the necessary changes to improve feedback and assessment in the education system, what steps would you take?
If I had that magic wand, what I would do is completely eliminate exams and assessments, as we understand them and as they are typically administered today: as tools for monitoring or for testing what students have learned.
I would try to do away with that approach because, by doing so, we would surely discover other assessment strategies that are far more inclusive and far more conducive to learning.
That magic wand would also allow me to preserve some of the best practices that already exist. From what I’ve heard from teachers in Uruguay, there are some very valuable examples of collaboration among colleagues.
I also got the impression that they really understand the importance of feedback: they know exactly what it is and how to put it into practice. Of course, everyone will do it differently, but their understanding of its importance is deeply ingrained and well-established. That’s why I think these practices should be maintained.
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Has online assessment truly transformed the way we evaluate, or have traditional practices simply been transferred to new settings?
It’s hard to generalize, because during the COVID-19 pandemic, the shift to online education happened very quickly and urgently. In that context, I think that in many cases, practices typical of in-person instruction were indeed replicated in the virtual environment. Ultimately, teachers recorded their classes and streamed them, and that remained very much in line with what they did in the in-person setting.
But there are also differences depending on the institution. The university where I work, for example, is entirely online and was designed that way from the start. We use an asynchronous model and have a long history of online education, so we don’t replicate the in-person experience; instead, we use other models.
What I do believe is that online education requires a shift in our approach to assessment. We have moved toward approaches that focus much more on competencies and less on rote learning. In that sense, advances in technology have led us toward a more competency-based assessment model.
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Artificial intelligence seems to have created numerous tensions. So, how should we assess the situation in this new landscape?
Artificial intelligence, after all, is a tool that is—and will continue to be—part of the professional world. That is why it is our responsibility to teach future professionals how to integrate artificial intelligence into their work effectively.
Of course, during the training process, this tool may be misused. There are some strategies that can be implemented to counteract this bad practice.
First, define how artificial intelligence will be used, both by teachers and by students. Agree that students will use it in a specific way, citing sources and reflecting on their use of it. Teachers, for example, will use it to speed up the process of returning assessment tests—always under their supervision, because ultimately the responsibility lies with the teacher.
Another strategy would be to make explicit the process that students have followed when using artificial intelligence. Crafting the prompt is very important, and there is also a whole set of skills involved in writing that text: What prompt did they use? What response did they receive? How did they interact with the artificial intelligence? What changes did they decide to make to their original activity? How has the activity been improved?
Making that entire process explicit helps ensure that artificial intelligence is not viewed so much as a bad practice, but rather as an ally and a tool to aid the learning process.
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How can we ensure that artificial intelligence is used in a critical, ethical, and pedagogically meaningful way in educational assessment?
One effective approach is to involve students in decisions related to assessment: from designing assessment tools (such as a rubric) to deciding how they will be assessed. Any process that involves sharing decision-making with students promotes a more critical, ethical, and pedagogically relevant form of assessment.
Another strategy for addressing this challenge is inclusive feedback. It is very important to adapt to the learning needs of all students, respecting each student’s individual pace. And, above all, to combine different feedback strategies to better accommodate this diversity in learning.
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In this new world shaped by digital technology and artificial intelligence, what will remain irreplaceable in educational assessment?
What is irreplaceable is the teacher’s evaluative judgment. Artificial intelligence can help us define assessment criteria and develop tools for collecting data, but the judgment of whether something is right or wrong rests with the teachers. And in this regard, artificial intelligence cannot help us.
Another important point is that artificial intelligence does not have access to a student’s learning progress. That is something only teachers can observe throughout the entire teaching and learning process. In addition, we must not forgetthe experiences and emotions that also contribute to learning.