Artificial intelligence has a diverse role in higher education and can change how educational institutions look at technological adoption. Here, we’ll discuss the role of AI assessments in helping universities to create meaningful tests and enhance the learning experience.
The educational system in Africa is going through major developments, be it in primary schools, high schools, or universities.
In countries like South Africa, the universities are embracing AI and adopting various AI-powered EdTech tools to offer enhanced learning experiences for students. However, a recent news article highlights the need for a more widespread AI adoption as African universities are at risk of falling behind, especially when compared to the West. The lack of proper AI policies in African universities is cited as one of the major hindrances, while the lack of funding seems to be another challenge.
However, the good news is that Google has recently announced that it will invest R670 million ($37 million) as cumulative funding across the African continent to promote the adoption and development of artificial intelligence. This will be done through a new community called the AI Community Centre in Accra, Ghana.
In the meantime, universities can start small by introducing simple yet efficient AI tools to streamline recurring activities, like creating assessments, grading, etc. For example, AI assessments have become popular around the globe and can be easily integrated into any educational model.
In this blog, we’ll read more about the use of AI in higher education to create better and meaningful assessments, tests, and quizzes.
AI for Automated Test Generation
AI assessments offer countless benefits to the faculty and students, albeit in different ways. What is the most time-consuming part of creating an assessment? The creation itself!
Lecturers, professors, or assistant professors have to manually skim through the vast study material, previous test papers, and other content to set a question paper for an exam. Factors such as readability, difficulty levels, syllabus limitations, question paper format, etc., should be kept in mind when creating an assessment test paper. Additionally, a test aiming to measure the recall ability of students will be different from a competency based assessment.
In such instances, the faculty has to strictly follow a list of parameters each time they create a test paper. Wouldn’t it be easier to save time by automating this process without compromising quality?
That’s where AI assessment tools like PrepAI come into the picture. They offer an effective solution to automate the entire process of converting the content into a structured test paper. The AI and NLP algorithms that power the assessment tools read the input content and create different types of questions from it, based on the user’s specifications.
For example, PrepAI accepts multiple input formats. The faculty doesn’t have to convert a Word document or a PDF into text, nor does it have to change audio and video files. They can directly upload text, Word, PDF, audio, and video. They can also enter the URL of the webpage or video they want to convert into an assessment. Moreover, only a portion of the video can be used to create assessment questions.
With so many user-friendly options, AI test case generation and automation can save many hours for universities.
AI for Cognitive Ability Test
Cognitive ability tests are designed to measure various mental processes, such as problem-solving, critical thinking, reasoning, comprehension, memory and application, etc. These tests help faculty understand the strengths, weaknesses, and abilities of students so that they can be guided to improve and perform better academically and as individuals.
The mental ability test can also be created by AI assessment tools like PrepAI. Supported by Bloom’s Taxonomy framework, PrepAI creates questions that align with the six levels of learning – remember, understand, apply, analyse, evaluate, and create. That way, lecturers can measure the lower-order and higher-order thinking skills in the same test and get clear insights about each student and their abilities.
By using AI for higher education assessments, universities can not only save time but can also enhance their assessments and improve overall quality standards.
AI to Re-Design Test Formats
Today’s changing scenario makes conventional test formats ineffective since they are designed to suit the rote-based or memory-based learning model. While it is still important to test the memory and recall abilities of students, it is equally necessary to determine if the recollected data can be applied and used effectively in real-life scenarios. Hence, competency based learning assessment extends memory-based tests to something better, meaningful, and practical.
Furthermore, the assessments can contain different question types like multiple choice, true or false, fill-in-the-blanks, descriptive, matching, etc. Visual content like images, diagrams, tables, charts, etc., can be included with the questions to make the assessments more engaging for students. This also helps in encouraging students to participate in more tests and showcase their abilities.
AI and higher education go hand in hand to bridge the gap between marginalized people and mainstream learning. AI assessment tools have accessibility features like read-aloud, adjusting fonts and contrasts for greater readability, and so on. Students with disabilities will find it easier to participate in such online assessments.
AI for Automated Grading
Grading the submitted answers is also a time-consuming and effort-intensive process for the faculty. While certain assignments have to be manually graded, many tests, especially the ones conducted online, can be graded using AI. Simply put, the AI assessment tool will automatically grade the answers submitted by students and share instant scores/ results with them. The lecturers will still play a role. They check the scores and use the insights provided by the tool to give personalized feedback to each student. That way, the student will also know where to improve and how to increase their performance.
By using artificial intelligence in higher education effectively for such recurring activities, universities can promote higher learning standards and hone students’ skills to help them enter the job market with greater confidence.
AI for Proctoring Measures
Universities should also be aware of how technology can be misused. Cheating in exams is a primary concern for many educational institutions. This can also be addressed using AI proctoring software. While some assessment tools come with built-in anti-cheating features, others can be easily integrated with exclusive proctoring solutions. AI detectors help identify content created by generative AI tools. AI-powered plagiarism tools ensure that the assignments are not copied from others.
Browser lockdown, 360-degree camera with microphone, real-time supervision, facial recognition, etc., are some examples of AI proctoring features that help maintain a secure test environment. This also reduces the pressure on human invigilators to keep a sharp eye on everyone in the room and allows them to use their instincts with AI-powered insights to control cheating during exams.
Final Words
As seen above, there are various ways in which AI assessments can help universities make their tests more meaningful, effective, and user-friendly. The faculty, students, and institutions can benefit from integrating AI tools into their learning and assessment methodologies.
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