Designing and securing assessment

The rapid evolution of AI tools has transformed what is possible for our students to do in assessment.

Across UQ contextual guidance is being developed within the contexts of specific disciplines, schools and faculties. It is critical to implement this guidance to ensure the effectiveness of our programs, and the quality of students' experience.

Assessment design decisions

The rapid evolution of AI tools has transformed what is possible for our students to do in assessment. The boundaries of what AI can do continue to expand with each new release. This has significant implications for the validity and design of assessment tasks.

Professor Danny Liu (on behalf of TEQSA) has created short videos demonstrating AI's capabilities:

Permitted use of AI in your assessment

Students at UQ are permitted to use AI in their studies and assessment that is not identified as ‘secure’.

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.
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.

Guidance on designing assessment, examples of assessment ideas and learning design support is available if you wish to make changes to your assessment. Any changes to assessment need to be made in accordance with the assessment policy and procedure with due consideration of accreditation requirements and the impact on programs.

What is secure assessment?

Secure assessments are designed to ensure confidence that the work reflects the student’s own learning. Secure assessment tasks are:

designed to ensure student learning and integrity,
supervised, and
at least 30% of the course grade or a Pass/Fail hurdle.

Not every assessment task needs to be secure. Note that, from Semester 2, 2025, the transition will begin to ensure that every course includes at least one secure assessment item.

Secure assessment strategies include supervised tasks, invigilated activities, or assessments involving direct interaction with staff or peers.

Across UQ we are exploring a range of ways to make assessment secure:

Secure questioning / interaction about the activity
Student discuss their submitted work is supervised conditions (see the Oral assessments guide (PDF, 283 KB) for options).
Scaffolded submission with supervised activities
Samples of students work on the tasks are developed and/or discussed in supervised conditions
Real-time task completion
Students complete the entire task in supervised conditions
Corroboration by known observer
Students work with a trusted observer, who confirms the student’s abilities

These approaches may be applicable in-person and online. The feasibility of these approaches is context dependent. UQ is exploring how we can better support these approaches with our technology and systems. Universities across Australia are adopting similar approaches (e.g. University of Melbourne Secure assessment guide).

Associate Professor Ryan Walter from the School of Political Science has developed a list of secure assessment approaches:

Live (in-person) quizzes in lectures
Live (in-person) quizzes in tutorials
In-class padlet submission applying concepts to cases
Mock interview focused on “live” analysis of a case presented in the interview
Oral interactive assessments (alone or added to a take-home assignment)
Interactive and in-person simulations
Practical placements (assessed by supervisor)
Supervised competency practicals, quizzes or exams
Peer-reviewed group work or assessment
Invigilated Exams

Examples of secure assessment tasks

Secure assessment can be implemented in many ways to suit the context and size of a course.

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:

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

Assessment 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:

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.
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.
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.

Planning open assessment (AI permitted)

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).

Open Assessment Examples

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

Technology to support assessment

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.