Masterclass

Rethinking the Value Proposition of Human-Centred Activity in Higher Education Assessment

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a distant prospect; it is rapidly becoming embedded in the fabric of everyday life, much like the smartphone revolution of the past decade. For higher education globally, this reality presents both profound challenges and transformative opportunities in the assessment space. As educators, we cannot afford to ignore AI’s presence nor allow its adoption to occur as an uncontrolled force within our learning and teaching environments. This masterclass argues for a deliberate, values-driven approach to integrating AI into assessment practices – one that places human-centred activity at its core. It proposes a human-centred framework that draws together ideas of assemblage thinking, multimodality, and generative practice structures to foreground new pragmatic regimes for  engaging with what matters in human-centred assessment work.

The session invites participants to engage with practical scenarios that illustrate how AI can be integrated into assessment designs to enhance human capacity and capability – such as supporting formative feedback processes – while preserving the relational, interpretive, ethical, and reflective dimensions that define meaningful assessment. Ultimately, the session challenges participants to reframe the value proposition of assessment from a narrow focus on efficiency to a broader commitment to engagement, trust, and authentic learning. Participants are supported to consider how they can adopt practice designs that safeguard human judgment, authenticity, and agency for AI-enabled futures. The goal is not to resist technological change, but to ensure that human-centred principles remain the differentiator in creating transformative educational experiences.

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