Being right feels good, but it can keep us static.
Being wrong, at its root, is to be on a journey.
Rachel Botsman, leading expert and author on trust in the digital world
Are you sitting comfortably? Don’t get used to it – that familiar, reassuring space might be moved, adjusted, re-designed or indeed re-generated at any point. But is that such a bad thing?
A persistent theme took up residence in my head after last Friday’s Learning & Teaching Forum, reinforced by scrolling past the words of Rachel Botsman in a Substack note that evening. As presenters shared experiments, findings, and failings in their Forum sessions, many reflected not only on what succeeded, but what went wrong, too, from de-railed project plans to inconclusive research results. Being wrong, however, was crucial. Being wrong wasn’t the end, but the start of a whole new journey, deeper insights, and unexpected innovations.
Margaret Bearman on program-wide assessment: not perfect, but better
If David Boud encouraged us to push open the door to change this time last year, this year’s keynote Margaret Bearman took it off the hinges and re-modelled the room completely – such has been the impact of generative AI on higher education and so many other sectors this year.
Making full use of the collaborative classroom space, Margaret ran an interactive session on designing assessment and the challenge of generative AI, inviting us to consider questions such as “who determines what counts as good?”. Along the way, we took an engaging dive into some opening lines to novels, variously produced by esteemed authors, and ChatGPT. The point was not to decide whether GenAI can write good fiction or not, but to examine how this technology might help students to develop their own evaluative judgement.
Teaching is the moment where we are best placed to assess.
Margaret Bearman
After zooming into the detail of designing for evaluative judgement, Margaret zoomed out to consider the benefits and practical challenges of systemic, program-wide assessment. Here the focus shifts from trying to securely assess each individual subject, to identifying ‘milestone’ assessments to assure progress at set points across a degree, with overarching learning outcomes that stretch beyond a single subject.
Program-wide assessment comes with its own logistical and design challenges, including the painful processes and details of committee decision-making, and familiar challenges such as constructive alignment and the gap between design intention versus implementation reality (that beautifully-designed assessment that just didn’t work!). But it’s worth the effort, as program-wide assessment can help to bring the focus back to learning, students, and our skills as experienced teachers. As Margaret concluded, “it’s not perfect, but it’s better”.
Student reflections: are we working towards the ‘wrong’ futures?
We also heard from students about what was top of mind for them as they consider the impacts of generative AI on work and study. Some common themes and questions arising from their comments included:
- Obsolete skills and career readiness: which skills should we focus on in a changing world like this? How do we choose what to keep, and what to let go of? Are we really preparing for the practices and norms of today’s workplaces?
- AI awareness, skills, and limitations: what should we be learning about generative AI? How well can students leverage it for learning? Do we understand the impacts and implications for developing skills such as critical thinking?
- Authenticity, originality, and ‘being human’: what kind of threat does AI pose to the creative disciplines and future work in areas such as the GLAM sector? How is it changing how we think, judge, and evaluate work?
- Ethical questions: what does AI mean for copyright and IP, including student work? What about the broader issues of AI and its impact on economics, society and the environment? What happens if I don’t want to use AI, but now my assessment demands it?
When students came back together at the end of the forum, they also reflected on what they had seen from educators during the day, including a focus on equity and access, work readiness, and that ongoing thread of ‘productive failure’. They saw very ‘human’ academics (thank goodness!) exploring the boundaries of what was possible, learning from it, and sharing those failures and learnings with others.
Enjoying the journey: from Fiji to Paris, and back again…
As always at the Learning and Teaching Forum, the rest of the program ranged far and wide – not to mention braving torrential rain in the dash from Building 2 to Building 11! As we shook out umbrellas and dried damp shoes, we were treated to 10-minute glimpses into topics such as studio-based learning for engineers in Paris, a study tour for nurses and public health students in Fiji, and innovative uses of GenAI in property technology, project management, and a range of other courses.
The zooming in and out didn’t stop with Margaret’s keynote, either, with technology taking students all the way from bioprinting and advanced microscopy to massive projections of student work in the UTS Data Arena as the culmination of a final year Medical Biotechnology subject.
See the full program of the day’s events and contributors, including abstracts.
The day closed with the announcement of the Learning and Teaching Award winners – congratulations to all! We look forward to celebrating with you at the ceremony in 2025.
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