The newest book, More Than Words, is also highly recommended

Assessment, and most things in education, are context-dependent. Contexts change...

So right now I'm focusing on the simple message of balancing validity and security in decision-making, which obviously leads to the Assessment Wheel of Fortune to get discussion going (sorry about the Swenglish - salstenta is a traditional exam hall experience). #AssessmentInHE

That's true! I've been thinking a lot lately about simplifying messages. If you don't think about assessment all day, you might respond to challenges by choosing the familiar, e.g. replace takehome with supervised exams, or add oral exams. Secure, yes, but they bring validity and time problems.

And thanks!

I'm not too sure you will learn anything @bastrimbos.bsky.social ! But if you pass it on to an early career colleague later, I will be very happy. 😀

And although it was published 3 weeks before ChatGPT was released I'm confident the approach works fine as it relies on your judgement. Maybe you will balance validity and security differently now but it was always your choice as an assessor. #AssessmentInHE

There's also the value of reflecting after the practice, and thinking about what could be better next time.

Our research shows that 'affect' - the way teachers make students feel - is really important to them trusting teachers. Or not trusting them, if they feel belittled or uncared about. Knowledge is important but students tend to assume the teacher has that, because they're employed at the university.

signed, someone who has written a MOOC this year and is writing another, and there is a reason why I hang out in the discussion areas of the MOOC. (I should also admit, even though I know it's going to make trouble, that both are about GenAI because I don't have the option to look away from it).

About 30 years ago Diana Laurillard pointed out that if students could get a degree without teachers, they could just spend 4 years in a library. Leaving aside the gatekeeping aspect of examination/certification (easily dealt with by government), students want to have teachers. Let's lean into that!

well, exactly..."Looking forward to reading your students' assignments" is my 4th criteria for assessment design (after validity, security and fairness). If you don't want to see it, why would they want to write it?

Marc's piece is more thoughtful, but I also wrote about this last year and it's a red line for me. Also, our current focus groups suggest that students are horrified at the thought that their teachers are not going to read their work. That's dehumanising. assessmentinhe.wordpress.com/2024/05/26/s...

Hard yes from me too. I recently heard a group of teachers saying all these & not seeing any connections: 1) I don't trust students not to use GenAI so I have tests 2) I'm bored with reading the same submissions 3) I use GenAI to check the feedback I'm giving 4) education is becoming dehumanised.

Supervised exams are entirely secure, but not always valid or fair. They are an assessment option, but your experience shows why they shouldn't be the only one. This post includes a summary sheet with mitigations for the availability of GenAI tools assessmentinhe.wordpress.com/2025/07/17/w...