Authentic Assessment in Healthcare Education using AI
Authentic assessment is increasingly viewed as a potential solution to contemporary challenges in higher education, but its relationship to these challenges is complex and requires careful consideration. While authentic assessment aims to better prepare students for their futures, prevent cheating, and promote inclusion, it's crucial to recognise that simply labelling an assessment as "authentic" does not automatically guarantee these outcomes.
Preparing Graduates for the Future
Authenticity should be seen as a set of principles that guide assessment design and implementation, rather than a specific method or format. Authentic assessments should focus on developing adaptable, lifelong learners equipped to navigate unpredictable futures. This involves designing tasks that encourage students to learn how to develop practices attuned to uncertain and changing contexts, even if we can’t clearly specify what those contexts will be. Workplace learning often involves performativity that can lead students to act in "inauthentic" ways to appear more competent. Authentic assessments need to address this performativity and encourage genuine learning. Not all real-world practices are desirable to replicate in educational settings. Educators should be selective about which practices they encourage. The rapid evolution of technology and work practices makes it difficult to predict future skills needs. Authentic assessments must strive to develop adaptable learners who can thrive in unknown future contexts. By carefully considering these complexities, educators can move beyond "authentic assessment" as a buzzword and toward a more nuanced and meaningful approach to assessment that prepares students for the complexities of the 21st century.
Ensuring Assessment Validity, Reliability, and Fairness in Healthcare Education
Authentic assessment in healthcare education using AI presents a complex challenge, demanding a delicate balance between leveraging AI's capabilities and preserving the authenticity of learning experiences. While AI offers opportunities for personalized learning and innovative teaching methods, concerns about data privacy, bias, and potential misuse must be carefully addressed. AI should not replace critical thinking or the acquisition of essential medical knowledge. Its role is to enhance learning, not to "think for you." Authentic assessments using AI should simulate real-world scenarios and challenges faced in healthcare settings. This might involve AI-driven simulation platforms for practicing clinical skills, Virtual simulations of public health crises to develop problem-solving abilities, and use of AI to tailor learning content based on individual student progress and needs (adaptive learning).
Establish clear guidelines on the acceptable use of AI in assessments to uphold academic integrity. Encourage open discussions about AI's limitations and potential biases in healthcare. Teach students to critically evaluate AI outputs and understand the ethical implications of its use in healthcare. Focus on fostering digital literacy in students. This includes teaching students about how AI functions, its potential biases and limitations, and the need for responsible usage. Use AI-powered tools as opportunities to discuss the ethical implications of AI in scientific research (data privacy, bias, and accuracy). Combine AI insights with human judgment to ensure fair and comprehensive evaluations. Use AI to personalize assessments to better evaluate what students know and are capable of. Employ a diverse range of assessment tools, including traditional exams, project-based evaluations, and peer and self-assessments. Authentic assessment extends beyond simply preventing students from using AI. The goal is to prepare students for a healthcare landscape increasingly integrated with AI, equipping them to utilize it effectively and ethically.
Assessment Security and Authentic Assessment
Students may use AI to complete assignments, potentially undermining academic integrity. While AI-driven assessment can provide personalized feedback, it is important to ensure that students use this feedback to improve their skills and not simply as a shortcut to complete assignments. Assessment security, which seeks to ensure students demonstrate learning outcomes, may come into tension with authenticity when using AI. For example, assessment security often restricts collaboration, which is a crucial aspect of authentic practice in professional settings. Complex, real-world tasks are often harder to cheat on than traditional multiple-choice exams, especially in timed conditions. It is far more challenging for someone else to complete a portfolio or presentation than simply write a paper or answer multiple choice questions.
Assessment security and authentic assessment are both essential for high-quality education. Assessment security focuses on the integrity of the process, while authentic assessment focuses on the relevance and meaningfulness of the tasks. Ideally, institutions should strive to implement both, creating assessments that are both secure and authentic to provide a fair and valuable learning experience for all students.