Implementing a collaborative program-wide approach to redeveloping assessment in response to generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)

The rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) presents one of the most significant challenges to higher education in many years. Universities retain the responsibility to assure students graduate with the competencies associated with programs and must also ensure that students are prepared for a world where GenAI has become ubiquitous. Program-wide approaches to redeveloping assessment are encouraged to address this but these are challenging to implement and there is minimal research exploring the experience of teams involved. This study adopted a combined ethnographic and interpretive phenomenological approach to explore the experiences of academics and researchers who were participating in collaborative program-wide review and redesign of assessment in response to GenAI. Participants who contributed to the data included academic team members (n = 4), project leads (n = 3) and researchers (n = 6), who took part in project meetings (n = 8), focus groups (n = 3), and reflective activities (n = 12). The affordances, challenges and recommendations for implementing program-wide approaches were identified including the importance of participation from a range of stakeholders, being open and curious, and embedding time for collaboration and peer learning. The challenges of redeveloping assessment in a time of GenAI and the opportunities GenAI offers to improve assessment design, are also discussed.