I'm just back from been having a couple of weeks holiday from the blog, escaping from Spanish heatwaves half way up a mountain in Galicia. But the time has come to get back to the keyboard. And I've quite a pile of posts waiting to be written

Lets start with assessment. Assessment has not caused such a stir in vocational education and training as in school and higher education, mainly I guess because the general move towards competence and practice based assessment is less vulnerable to the likes of ChatGPT. But that doesn't mean that vocational education and training policy makers and planners can sit back. For one thing many VET systems include general education and that has tended to be traditionally assessed. Another issue is the potential of simulations developed with AI for new forms of assessment. And as a recent article in the UK FE Week web site said in vocational education and training "we face a uniquely broad set of stakeholders when it comes to AI. Teachers want to know how to use it to save time and support learning. Regulators and awarding bodies wrestle with the questions of integrity. Safeguarding teams need to understand risks to learners. IT departments are focused on security, and governors are asking about strategic implications, while learners need clear guidance on how to use it effectively and responsibly.  

Work based learning adds further perspectives on the changing skills needed by employers. Each view is legitimate, but without spaces to share and work together the risk is fragmentation and duplication."

All this was a precursor to UK JISC explaining how they were developing a Community of Practice around assessment in VET. Staff from nine colleges had been exploring looking at assessment from different angles – from design to learner AI literacy and well being.  The outcome, they say is a set of top tips structured around what staff can do before and after assessment. "Before assessment: set clear expectations, design tasks that promote higher-order thinking, and create safe opportunities for learners to practise and reflect on their AI use. After assessment: approach suspected misuse with empathy, check understanding through multiple methods, and build in time to reflect on what worked well."

JISC are keen to point out is not a strict set of rules, but practical, adaptable guidance that colleges can tailor to their own context and see this as just a first stage in the process of developing Communities of Practice through which practitioners can develop and update guidance.

This is a link to the full version of the FE AI and Assessment Top Tips.

About the Image

The image illustrates the beauty, fragility and complexity of the things and processes found in nature, all of which are increasingly endangered by the exploitation and destruction that occurs in the name of AI "innovation" technological "progress". The distortion of the image aims to highlight how processes unseen in the AI development pipeline can breakdown natural environments.