Assessment Alchemist 101: How to use GenAI to turn mundane assessment tasks into powerful and transformational learning experiences!
Sue Beckingham is an Associate Professor in Learning and Teaching, National Teaching Fellow, and Learning and Teaching Lead in Computing at Sheffield Hallam University.
Just as an alchemist seeks to turn base metals into gold, an ‘assessment alchemist’ reimagines traditional assessment practices to create transformative and meaningful learning experiences. In the context of higher education, an assessment alchemist would be someone who is highly innovative, adaptive, and skilled at transforming traditional assessment methods into more dynamic, inclusive, and significant activities. This metaphorical “alchemist” would not just rely on conventional exams, essays, and rigid rubrics, but would blend various tools, approaches, and techniques to assess student learning in a more creative, and impactful way.
The alchemist is adaptive, experimenting with new tools, technologies, and methods such as generative AI (GenAI) to enrich learning and engagement. Integrating GenAI into assessment design can provide inspiration for both creativity and clarity with the potential to develop new ideas to enhance how students both understand and engage with assessment tasks.
This workshop will be a hands-on, collaborative experience that blends practical applications of GenAI with creative thinking about how to transform assessments and how these are communicated to students. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about multimodal generative AI tools and discuss how to apply them in ways that could be more impactful and meaningful.
By the end of the masterclass workshop participants will learn about how GenAI can help them to:
- Develop engaging and clearer assessment criteria.
- Consider alternative multimodal assessment tasks
- Develop creative ways to present assessment briefs beyond traditional written formats.
- Design activities to help students’ understanding of assessment requirements.
Biography
Sue Beckingham is an Associate Professor in Learning and Teaching, National Teaching Fellow, and Learning and Teaching Lead in Computing at Sheffield Hallam University. She is a SEDA Fellow, a Certified Management and Business Educator, a Senior Fellow of the HEA, and a Visiting Fellow at Edge Hill University. Sue is also the Deputy Communications Officer for the Association of National Teaching Fellows Committee, a co-opted member of SEDA Executive Committee and a trained Lego Serious Play facilitator. Her research interests include social media for learning and the use of technology to enhance active learning, teaching, and assessment; and has published and presented this work nationally and internationally as an invited keynote speaker. She is the co-founder of the international #LTHEchat ‘Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Twitter Chat‘.
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