Designing and securing assessment

Secure assessment can be implemented in many ways to suit the context and size of a course.  The Assessment Ideas Factory provides a searchable database of UQ assessment examples you can explore.

Associate Professor Carl Sherwood's approach to Design assessment to promote and assure student learning

Sarah Percy Method:

Associate Professor Peter Lewis coordinates Advancing Research Inquiry (HLTH7315) with a Research Question assessment including a viva voce component. The viva voce has been effective at assessing students' abilities and engaged students with personal, real time feedback.

Associate Professor Lewis provides students with:

• Research Question Task Sheet (PDF, 180 KB)
• Part A Viva Voce Rubric (PDF, 241 KB)
• Part B Research Question Exploration Rubric (PDF, 263.4 KB)

Examples of course assessment profiles with secure assessment  

UQ has many purposes for assessment. We need to find the right mix of secure assessment to support our students' learning and to ensure the integrity of our degrees.

Download example assessment summaries with secure assessment (PDF, 114.8 KB) in courses from a range of disciplines.

Assessment Ideas Factory examples

The following non-exhaustive list highlights examples from the Assessment Ideas Factory of secure assessment.

Authentic assessment in Finance

• 500+ students
• Post-graduate
• High time required
• Conditions: Work-related, Group, Peer-assessed

Authentic weekly portfolio, case studies, team-based assignment, and reflection

• 40-60, 60-80, 80-100 students
• Post-graduate
• Medium time required
• Conditions: Group, Peer-assessed, Time limited

Clinical Project Using Action Learning in Health Sciences  

• 80-100 students
• Third year/Post-graduate
• Medium time required
• Conditions: Work-related, Group, Sequence

In-class writing tasks in public health

• 100-500 students
• First year
• Low time required
• Conditions: Sequence

Objective Assessment of Complex Skills Using OSPE Examinations

• 100-500 students
• Third year
• High time required
• Conditions: Identity verified, Work-related

Oral Exam in Political Science

• 120 students
• Second year, Third year, Post-graduate
• Low time required
• Conditions:  Identity verified, Work-related, Time limited

Pair-Interview (assessed conversations)  

• 20-40 students
• First year
• Medium time required
• Conditions: Identity verified, Group

Practical Activity Facilitation (demonstrating a competency)

• 80-100 students
• First year, Second year, Third year, Post-graduate
• High time required
• Conditions: Identity verified

Unfamiliar Contexts in Invigilated Exams 

• 500+ students
• First year
• High time required
• Conditions: Identity verified, Time limited

Across UQ course teams are creating assessments that incorporate and respond to AI. 

A/Prof Helen Marshall developed a new rubric for WRIT3700 to support marking work where AI could be used: Research essay (qualitative rubric) (PDF, 44.9 KB) 

Dr Rebeca Armstrong Beyond the output - Critical thinking with Copilot in speech pathology

Dr Luli Faber Boosting engagement and performance in Physiology with Al-created, secure assessments

Assessment design has changed in response to AI, guidance has been developed across UQ to support: 

• Interactive Oral Assessment
• Open Assessment (where AI may be used)
• Hurdle design

At UQ, assessment is designed not only to measure achievement, but also to engage students in learning, provide feedback for improvement, inform teaching, demonstrate attainment of learning outcomes and graduate attributes, support trustworthy certification of achievement, and maintain professional and disciplinary standards. This section provides guidance to design assessment in theage of AI with all of these purposes in mind.

Interactive Oral Assessment

Interactive oral assessment is can be an effective and secure approach when students need to demonstrate:

•     reasoning in real time
•     applied understanding
•     authorship and ownership of ideas
•     professional communication

This approach may be particularly useful where staff need stronger assurance of students’ reasoning, authorship, application of knowledge, or professional communication.

UQ staff can draw on the following resources to support the design, implementation, and administration of interactive oral assessment:

•  Preparing oral assessment guide (PDF, 283 KB) supports academics in designing questions for oral assessments considering the implications for conducting, and moderating oral assessments. It outlines key principles, practical strategies, and considerations for validity, reliability, and inclusivity across different oral assessment formats
• The EAIT Learning Enhancement team have developed a range of resources to support the design and implementation of interactive Oral assessment: 
  • Design, planning, and implementation (PDF, 256.7 KB): Interactive oral assessments foster critical thinking, application of knowledge, and communication skills through authentic dialogue in a secure format that upholds academic integrity. 
  • Booking, scheduling, and recording: Practical guidance on the logistics of oral assessments including - room bookings, scheduling students, and storing recordings. 
  • Question and prompt guide for interactive oral assessments (PDF, 150.7 KB): a guide on question design for interactive oral assessments drawing on learning design principles, criteria-based rubric design, constructive alignment, and principles of semi-structured interviews.

Designing assessment where students can use AI

Students at UQ are permitted to use AI in their studies and assessment that is not identified as ‘secure’. Allowing AI in assessments shifts the focus of what is being evaluated - there are a range of considerations for designing open assessment (PDF, 164.5 KB). 

When AI is permitted:

• Set clear expectations: Outline how students should acknowledge or reference the tools used. 
• Model, discuss and support ethically and effectively AI use with your students.
• Test your assessment: 
• Use Microsoft Co-pilot to simulate AI's role in completing tasks. 
  • Experiment with scaffolds and prompts to guide students, e.g., "Provide an outline for..." or "Identify key ideas for...". 
  • Regenerate AI responses to assess variability and adaptability. 
• Revise the task instructions, scaffolds, prompts, or marking criteria if AI tools can complete too much of the core intellectual work.

Hurdle design

At UQ a Hurdle (requirement) is “An assessment requirement identified in the course profile that must be satisfied to receive a specific grade.” (UQ Assessment Procedure). 

Faculty hurdle guidance is available across UQ to support consistent and effective practice. Check for guidance about the expectations of your Faculty when designing or implementing hurdles.

Hurdle requirements are important to uphold academic standards. However, hurdles can add administrative challenges for staff and contribute to student stress and anxiety. Used carefully, they uphold standards without adding unnecessary stress for staff or students. Follow these three principles: 

1. Use Hurdles Only When Needed 

   Critical Competency and Security. Add a hurdle only when essential for the learning outcomes – e.g. where you need to securely assure a learning outcome or a professional competency that every student must demonstrate to pass. 

   Where feasible draw on program and plan level assessment planning to identify where hurdles are critical. If standard assessments can ensure students meet the outcome, a hurdle might not be needed. 

2. Ensure Hurdle clarity  

   Clarity in the Course Profile. Inform students from day one about any hurdle. Hurdle requirements and consequences must be prominently explained in the Course Profile (e.g. “Hurdle requirement: Must score at least 40% on Final Exam to achieve a grade of 4 or above”) and explain why the hurdle exists. Students should know the rule and the reason up front. 

   Communicate early and often. Remind students during the semester about the hurdle and their progress. Be explicit about what happens if they don’t meet the hurdle. No student should be surprised by a hurdle at the end of semester – transparency reduces anxiety and builds trust. 

3. Support Student to Succeed on Hurdles 

   Set students up to succeed. Provide practice, review sessions, or formative quizzes on the hurdle’s content. Emphasise that the hurdle isn’t meant to catch students out but ensure they have achieved important outcomes. 

   Second chances where possible. Particularly for in-semester hurdles offer second attempt when feasible. For instance, a timely re-sit or alternative task gives students an opportunity to demonstrate competence without delaying their progress. 

Hurdles exist to ensure quality and integrity in our programs, but they should not create unnecessary barriers. By using hurdles only where necessary, communicating clearly, and supporting students to meet them, UQ staff can maintain high standards and foster positive student experiences. 

Model the potential impacts of a Hurdle in your course. 

UQ provides a range of centrally support digital assessment tools. The eLearning systems and support team provide guidance, consultations, and workshops for the use of these tools. These tools can enable more authentic examinations, managing and recording oral and practical assessment and improving the administration and experience of assessment for you and your students.

Across UQ, academics are exploring the use of AI in assessment. The RiPPLE platform particularly leverages the science of learning, crowdsourcing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help you partner with your students to deliver an active, social and personalised learning experience without large time investment.

The Assessment Transformation learning designers across UQ can provide advice about designing assessment with these tools.