Abstract:

Assessment in Higher Education (HE) is an essential process that evaluates the learning outcomes of students and the effectiveness of educational programs. One of the main aspects of assessment is to measure students' knowledge, skills, and abilities and for educators to provide feedback to improve their learning. It is also used to evaluate the effectiveness of instructional methods and materials and to guide the improvement of curriculum and teaching practices.

Assessment is an ongoing process that can be constructed of many types involving methods, such as exams, assignments, presentations, and project vivas. The results of which are used to inform degree classifications and attainment for students. Therefore, assessment plays a crucial role in ensuring the quality of higher education and the success of students in their academic and professional endeavours. The outcome of assessment is used to provide degree qualifications for students and thereby enabling employers to qualify appropriateness or the ability of an applicant to a specific role within their organisation.

Assessment itself has evolved over the years within HE; at one time the main method of assessment was the traditional closed book exam, however, changes in pedagogy and practice has evolved this. Authentic assessment is quickly becoming the pedagogical go to mechanism and refers to the use of real-world tasks or scenarios to evaluate students' knowledge, skills, and abilities in a higher educational setting. The rationale for the use of authentic assessment is that it can provide a more accurate measure of students' abilities over traditional assessment methods, such as multiple-choice tests or exams.

One benefit of authentic assessment is that it can better prepare students for real-world situations. By using tasks or scenarios that resemble those they may encounter in their future careers, students are better equipped to apply what they have learned in a practical setting. This type of assessment can also help students develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, as they are required to analyse and apply their knowledge to complex situations.

Another benefit is that authentic assessment can help to increase student motivation and engagement. When students are given tasks that are relevant to their lives and future goals, they are more likely to be invested in the learning process. This can lead to improved student performance and better retention of information.

“This is excellent!” We hear academics decree…. Step up, ChatGPT. ChatGPT is the latest development by OpenAI, an artificial intelligence statistical prediction model that is designed to both understand and respond to human language. This is where the new challenge has arisen, the majority of assessments are indeed written in human language. There exists now, freely available AI systems that are capable of reading assessment briefs and generating output in human language form, having been trained on a wealth of online data.

This could be seen as the biggest step change since the Internet, and how this had an impact on education and learning. This impact was surely a positive one. Is this where ChatGPT will take us, a positive step change in educational learning? This paper explores the challenges and opportunities available to us with the release of ChatGPT, how we embrace this technology, how we ensure our students learn from its capabilities, and how we ensure fair academic practice in HE.

Keywords:

Assessment, ChatGPT, Artificial Intelligence, AI.