Plenary Session : prof. Denise Whitelock, Open University – Digital Assessment and Artificial Intelligence: Practice and Promise
Digital Assessment and Artificial Intelligence: Practice and Promise
Digital assessment is an evolving construct used in education to enrich, inform and complement the teaching process. Using automatic feedback however, has been under-utilised and under-valued throughout the assessment process.
This presentation provides insight into a number of projects that have automated some aspects of assessment and feedback, including a system for language learning which is an example of an early AI system. The examples selected from my own AI research have a strong conceptual underpinning, for instance Dweck’s work to develop Open Comment which provided authentic feedback on a free text entry assessment system. With Open Mentor, Bales’ interactive categories were used to help tutors develop effective and supportive feedback. SafeSea, on the other hand, allowed students to trial essay writing before taking the sometimes daunting step of submitting their first essay. This system was using analysis based on Pask’s conversational framework.
Furthermore, the presentation will discuss some of the issues raised by teachers and students about digital assessment and will provide examples of how their concerns are currently being addressed by both researchers and software developers in order to support educator feedback to students. Finally, the issue of potential disrupters will be raised which moves us into the realm of crystal ball gazing.
References
Bales, R.F. (1950). A set of categories for the analysis of small group interaction
Dweck, C.S. (2017). Mindset: Changing the way you think to fulfil your potential. New York: Ballatine Books
Pask, G. (1976). Conversation theory: Applications in Education and Epistemology. Amsterdam, New York: Elsevier Science Limited
Read the full bio of Professor Denise Whitelock.