In early October 2024 I received a surprise email from Professor Pete Boyd inviting me to lead a Master Class at the International Assessment in Higher Education Conference which was taking place in Manchester 19-20 June 2025. Pete asked if I might lead one of the pre-conference workshops, on theme 2 below. Within that broad theme he said "you can focus in on something and we are hoping it might be related to AI and assessment."
The pre-conference workshops for 2025 will focus on five themes:
1. Designing evaluation and research methods for assessment and feedback policy and practice.
2. Practical ideas for enhancing the staff and student experience of assessment and feedback.
3. Leading institutional change in assessment and feedback policy and practice.
4. Working for social justice through assessment and feedback policy and practice.
5. Supporting development of research informed practice in assessment and feedback within the higher education community.
He also said we want an AHE committee member to co-facilitate each workshop, so you would have a buddy to plan and work with. I want you to take a lead but we think by involving a committee member we can generate some collaborative magic. I of course said yes!
I didn't have to wait long as Pete followed up the next day to say that I would be supported by the amazing duo Emerita Professor Sally Brown & Professor Kay Sambell. For me this was a match made in heaven. That evening the theme of the weekly LTHEchat was Let’s teach and learn about power! Exploring Powergogy and during this Kay Sambell in a tweet provided the inspiration for the focus of the Masterclass with a tweet sharing what her superpower would be.
My superpower would be Assessment Alchemist!. Ability to turn mundane assessment tasks into powerful and transformational learning experiences!
AHE Master Classes
To be headlined alongside this collection of amazing academics was an absolute privilege but also somewhat terrifying!
The conference offers themed workshop style Masterclasses from leading experts in the field of assessment in Higher Education.
You only need to visit the full programme to get a feel for the level of quality of the contributions. Suffice to say months of work went into preparing the masterclass and I was so lucky to have the guidance of Sally and Kay along the way. We wanted the focus of the session to be informative but also creative. We settled on the title below
Assessment Alchemist 101: How to use GenAI to turn mundane assessment tasks into powerful and transformational learning experiences!
https://ahenetwork.org/masterclass-workshop-sue-beckingham/
Abstract
Just as an alchemist seeks to turn base metals into gold, an ‘assessment alchemist’ reimagines traditional assessment practices to create transformative and meaningful learning experiences. In the context of higher education, an assessment alchemist would be someone who is highly innovative, adaptive, and skilled at transforming traditional assessment methods into more dynamic, inclusive, and significant activities. This metaphorical “alchemist” would not just rely on conventional exams, essays, and rigid rubrics, but would blend various tools, approaches, and techniques to assess student learning in a more creative, and impactful way.
The alchemist is adaptive, experimenting with new tools, technologies, and methods such as generative AI (GenAI) to enrich learning and engagement. Integrating GenAI into assessment design can provide inspiration for both creativity and clarity with the potential to develop new ideas to enhance how students both understand and engage with assessment tasks.
This workshop will be a hands-on, collaborative experience that blends practical applications of GenAI with creative thinking about how to transform assessments and how these are communicated to students. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about multimodal generative AI tools and discuss how to apply them in ways that could be more impactful and meaningful.
By the end of the masterclass workshop participants will learn about how GenAI can help them to:
- Develop engaging and clearer assessment criteria.
- Consider alternative multimodal assessment tasks
- Develop creative ways to present assessment briefs beyond traditional written formats.
- Design activities to help students’ understanding of assessment requirements.
Getting ready
#aheconference25 it’s Today! So looking forward to this conference where I and @kaysambell.bsky.social will be assisting @suebecks.bsky.social with her master class on AI wizardry
— Sally Brown (@profsallybrown.bsky.social) June 19, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Sally actually brought me her magnificent wizard cape and the three of us wore wizard hats during the Master Class.
The session was interactive and was a combination of me sharing examples of using Generative AI and those attending discussing in pair show they might apply in their own context.
- The Illustrated Brief
- Video Assessment Explainers
- Role-Play Brief Creation Using ChatGPT Personas
- Musical Micro Moments
- Audio Enhanced Criteria
- Moodboard Your marking Criteria
- The Alchemists Grimoire of Assessment Transformation - a summary of each of the activities
- The Alchemists Cupboard of Curiosities - a selection of GenAI tools
- The presentation slides and the ficticious module, assessment brief and assessment criteria we used as examplars.
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