Regulatory Environment
Higher education institutions are required to demonstrate that student achievement of the course and program learning outcomes is credibly assessed.
The methods of assessment used should be capable of confirming that all specified learning outcomes are achieved and that grades awarded reflect the level of student attainment.
See more at:
- Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2021
- TEQSA Guidance (particularly Domains 1 and 3)
Last updated 15 October 2025
Effective GenAI practice grows through open exchange of insights among colleagues, universities, professional bodies and industry, and through focused dialogue within each academic field to address its unique standards and challenges. By sharing knowledge at all levels, we can refine our strategies and stay aligned with emerging expectations.
The examples below have been sourced from across the global higher education sector.
Please contact LDTI if you have an example you would like included.
Tier 1 – Secure Assessment Tasks
Tier 1 tasks are supervised assessments that facilitate observable attainment of program/course learning outcomes, verifying that students have demonstrated the required knowledge and skills.
If the learning outcomes permit, secure assessments may involve students engaging with GenAI in specific ways, ranging from AI-assisted idea generation to the full utilisation of GenAI for task completion (Perkins, M., Furze, L., Roe, J., & MacVaugh., 2024).
Examples
Classifying an assessment as an exam triggers specific policies and procedures, including the requirement to schedule it within the official exam period. These requirements are outlined in Section 4 of the Course Assessment and Grading Manual.
Exams may be conducted in person or online under supervised conditions, and may involve written, practical, or oral components.
Examples:
Activities conducted in-term under controlled conditions may take multiple forms. These may include practical demonstrations, lab activities, completion of creative works, or tests/quizzes.
Examples:
- Boise State University Student perceptions of weekly synchronous team quizzes in an online statistics course
- University of Melbourne Assessing process and product in a constructively aligned subject
- UQLD Invigilated (in-class or Zoom) listening test
- UQLD Practical In-class Quiz
- UQLD Feedback-rich Online Quizzes
- UQLD In-class writing tasks
- Curtin University Incremental Tests
- Curtin University In-Class Worksheets
A live question and answer session during/following a live (in person or online) performance, presentation, placement or submission of an artefact provides an excellent opportunity for students to demonstrate their learning.
This may include formally structured interactive oral assessments, in class debates, Q&A following a presentation, or an oral defence of a submitted piece of work.
Jemima Morley (LDTI), Rachel Birch (School of Education), Andrew Kepert (School of Information and Physical Sciences), and Nicholas Foulcher (School of Architecture and Bult Environment) discuss examples of oral assessments during this October 2024 tEN Learning Lunchbox.
Developed based on learnings from running interactive oral assessments in a large cohort EDUC course, this Large Cohort Interactive Orals - Assessment Framework Toolkit provides practical guidance including suggestions to assist with room bookings and creating scripts.
Examples:
“The amount of time required to conduct and mark each assessment is broadly on par with the time previously spent marking written assignments”
- Interactive Oral Assessment; an authentic and integral alternative to examination
- UNSW Oral Assessments
- UNE Interactive Oral Assessments: A New but Old Approach to Assessment Design
- University of QLD Oral Exam in Political Science
- University of QLD - Interactive orals at scale: What happened when we tried to draw the owl?
- University of Sussex: Oral assessment as an AI-proof assessment tool
- A Toolkit for use of Debate as an Authentic Summative Assessment Method
- Case Study Using Structured Debates to Assess Critical Analysis in Environmental Policy
- Energy under debate: Fostering critical thinking in chemical engineering through in-class debates
- U SYD - Minimising GenAI usage through simulated role-play
- UQLD Educational Poster Presentation
- UQLD Genre Writing and Recital/Presentation
- UQLD Pair Interview
- UQLD Presentation on course text with questions
- UQLD Stakeholder Urban Policies Role-Play Exercise
- Interactive oral exams for scalable and authentic assessment in a large data science cohort: challenges and learnings
- Curtin University Industry Pitch
- Curtin University Interactive Oral Assessment
- Curtin University Simulated Job Interview
- Curtin University Professional Showcase
View more at HIGHLIGHTED RESOURCE: Interactive Oral Assessments
Authentic assessments are undertaken during placements, internships or other supervised workplace contexts, with real-time oversight embedded in the wider work-integrated learning (WIL) activities.
Examples:
Tier 2 – Additional Strategies to Support Assurance of Learning
In addition to the secure tasks described above, additional strategies can be implemented to support verifiable demonstration of learning outcomes.
Examples
Revising learning outcomes to explicitly include legitimate GenAI use clarifies expectations, reducing ambiguity that often leads to academic-integrity breaches, while at the same time promoting engagement with GenAI in ways that reflects industry expectations.
Examples:
Competency models, focused on mastery rather than numerical grades and ranking, can reduce competitive pressures and decrease student motivation to engage in unethical behaviours.
Examples:
Assessment tasks can be “coupled” so that marks in open assessment tasks are dependent on evidence of learning in related Tier 1 secure assessments. Secure assessment is used to validate the learning demonstrated in open assessment.
Examples:
Extended assignments that span an entire academic term, enabling students to engage in in-depth research, creative work, or practical application of course content while offering multiple opportunities for both secure assessment and feedback.
Creation and collation of work over time allows students to demonstrate learning progression, skills, and achievements, providing a holistic view of their development.
Staff from the School of Nursing and Midwifery discus their use of a Student-led conference as a form of assessment (tEN Showcase November 2024).
Examples:
- Texas A&M University - Leveraging Generative AI in a Capstone Project: A Case Study
- University of Dayton - What an AI-Aware shift could look like
- Future Proofing a ChatGPT-Proof Portfolio Evidence-Based Formative Assessment
- University of Melbourne Designing continuous assessment to support experiential and project based learning
- UQLD Reflective Workbook
- UQLD Authentic weekly portfolio, case studies, team-based assignment, and reflection
- UQLD Clinical Project Using Action Learning
- Curtin University Project with Progressive Supervision
Constructive alignment begins by considering the learning activities and evidence of achievement linked to each learning outcome. The more outcomes that are included in courses and programs, the more evidence (gathered through assessment) of achievement is required.
As the Higher Education Standards require that methods of assessment are capable of “confirming that all specified learning outcomes are achieved”, careful consideration should be given to the number of CLOs and PLOs.
Where there is unavoidable need (e.g. due to external accreditation requirements) to include a large number of learning outcomes, ensure there is capacity to assess all outcomes adequately and for students to achieve them without exceeding typical Student Workload requirements.
Open Assessment
Any assessment task that is not delivered in a secure, supervised fashion should be considered “open” and be created with the assumption that students may engage GenAI in competing the task. Such open, formative assessments can allow educators to focus attention on the process of learning and on process-based assessment strategies that uncover “evidence as to whether or not the work of learning has occurred” (Ellis & Lodge, 2024).
“It's going to be a major part of the future of work, and this offers a great opportunity for universities to be at the forefront of how to incorporate it not only into how to use it in studies but also in the workforce they will be joining. Those that don't keep up will be left behind.”
“Incorporate it into more assignments. Help us to learn how to use it within our professions and to identify where AI can be incorrect.”
“Incorporate the use of AI into courses. It is here to stay, we should be taught how to utilise it to our advantage. I think if we were taught how to use it to assist us in our studies, we would see a an output of higher quality work and a greater understandings on topics.”
Actually incorporate it into assignments. its a world wide tool that people will be able to access when they are in their prospective job fields.”
Student comments from the 2025 SFUN Results - Generative Artificial Intelligence
Open assessment for learning can help develop students’ discipline-specific knowledge, skills and mindsets. Carefully crafted tasks, which clearly scaffold and guide the appropriate use of every relevant resource, can assisting in equipping “students to participate ethically and actively in a society where AI is ubiquitous” (Lodge, J. M., Howard, S., Bearman, M., Dawson, P, & Associates, 2023).
Examples
Dr Zhongtian Li (Newcastle Business School) discusses how he incorporated GenAI as a learning tool in a first year accounting assessment (tEN Showcase June 2025)
Lucinda Mithin and Ritin Fernandez from the School of Nursing and Midwifery discuss how they incorporated into a large fully online postgraduate course (tEN Showcase June 2025)
In this LDTI AI in Action Bite Size session (May 2025), Dr Karen Ray from the School of Health Sciences discusses student use of GenAI in a group assessment in her third year course.
During the tEN Showcase November 2024, Bert Verhoeven (Newcastle Business School) outlines his approach to mandating student use of GenAI as part of A Framework for Human-Centric AI-First Teaching
- UNSW - Collaborative project with personal learning reflection
- UNSW - Collaborative discussions and experimentation with students
- University of Wollongong - Using AI for Project Work
- Jisc - Assessment ideas for an AI-enabled world
- Harvard Ai Pedagogy Project Assignments
- University of Melbourne Developing Students’ AI Literacies as part of a Research-Focused Assessment Task
- Monash ChatGPT Tennis
- Curtin University Critical AI Comparison Report
- Curtin University Graphic Novel
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.