05/02/2026
Lazy assessments reflect lazy teaching. AI just exposed it.
I've said this here many times now: assessment is the area where GenAI's impact is probably the biggest.
Every teacher, whether you embrace AI or resist it, should be rethinking their assessment practices right now.
Students are using AI daily. They're using it to brainstorm, draft, revise, and yes, complete assignments.
So here's the challenging question: are our assessments genuinely measuring what students know and can do?
Ask yourself when you design an assessment: Does this task truly require original thinking? Can AI complete it in 30 seconds? Would the student learn anything meaningful even if they did use AI?
If the answer to that last question is no, the problem isn't AI. The problem is the assessment.
I shared a guide a few weeks ago called "Assessment Literacy for Teachers" that touched on some of these ideas. But today I'm sharing something that goes deeper, especially for those in higher education.
This is a practical guidebook from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, developed specifically for public higher education faculty and assessment professionals.
If you're faculty, an instructional designer, or anyone involved in assessment at the college level, you might want to keep this one handy.
A few ideas from the guidebook I highlighted:
Most assessment professionals already recognize GenAI's potential, but very few feel prepared to use it responsibly. That gap is where the real work needs to happen.
The guidebook frames AI as a tool that supports human judgment. Pattern recognition, drafting, efficiency gains, yes. Interpretation, decision-making, accountability? Those stay with us.
And perhaps most importantly: waiting for perfect conditions is a mistake (love this one).
Thoughtful, incremental engagement now beats rushed adoption later, especially when equity and student learning are at stake.
The resource also offers practical frameworks for implementation, guidance on FERPA and privacy, and strategies for faculty partnership.
Worth a read.
Link in comments.
Reference
Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. (2025). GenAI in assessment: A practical guidebook for Massachusetts public higher education.