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Lane 1 - Secured: secure, in-person supervised assessment to validate learning

Lane 1: Secured Assessments are supervised, in-person assessments that verify individual student achievement. These focus on assessment of learning, ensuring students can demonstrate their knowledge and skills. The supervision ensures that use of AI is prohibited, or controlled in cases where a unit coordinator has integrated its use as part of the assessment.

To assure learning at the level needed to provide the integrity required by accreditation (including the Higher Education Standards Framework and professional bodies) and by the community, this control requires in-person supervision with the ability to restrict the use of technologies including devices and wearables such as smart glasses, rings and ear pieces. The difficulty in doing this and the associated costs, inconvenience and intrusiveness means that Secure assessments should be planned at the degree or program level at milestone and summative points, rather than as the responsibility of each contributing unit.

The table below summarises the Secure assessments according to the method of security and who is responsible for applying it.

Secure assessment category	Security	Responsibility
Final exam	In person invigilation	Examinations Office with University approved invigilators
In-semester test	In person invigilation	Unit coordinators with University approved invigilators
In class	In person supervision	Unit coordinators with trained teaching staff
Placement, internship, or supervision	In person supervision	Unit coordinators with trained placement, internship or supervision teaching staff

Final exam – secured

Labelling an assessment as an exam has a number of policy and procedure implications, such as needing to run in our designated exam periods. The maximum and minimum weightings listed below reflect the need to coordinate these across campus and their likely contribution to the overall assessment weighting. The use of generative AI and other tools is either prevented, restricted, or allowed by the examiner as required.

Written exam. Live written exam, written exam with non-written elements, or non-written exam, however administered. Worth between 30-60%.
Practical exam. Practical exam or practical exam with non-practical elements, however administered. Includes assessment of laboratory, clinical and performance skills. Worth between 10-60%.
Oral exam. Live oral exam. Worth between 10-60%.

In-semester test – secured

Labelling an assessment as an in-semester test similarly has a number of policy and procedure implications, such as needing to employ trained invigilators to run them during teaching weeks in the semester. The maximum and minimum weightings listed below reflect the need to coordinate these across campus during teaching weeks and their likely contribution to the overall assessment weighting. The use of generative AI and other tools is either prevented, restricted, or allowed by the assessor as required.

Written test. Live written test, written test with non-written elements, or non-written test, however administered. Worth between 20-60%.
Practical test. Practical test, practical test with non-practical elements, however administered. Includes assessment of laboratory, clinical and performance skills. Worth between 10-60%.
Oral test. Live oral test. Worth between 10-60%.

In class - secured

These assessments are supervised in person, either in regular timetabled classes sessions such as practicals or in other sessions by the faculty or school. The use of generative AI and other tools is either prevented, restricted, or allowed by the assessor as required.

Interactive oral. Scenario-based conversations to demonstrate, synthesise, and extend knowledge and skills. Unlike an oral exam, oral test or viva voce, this is a practical application of what has been learned often with a real-world scenario.
In person practical, skills, or performance task or test. Observation and assessment of live demonstrated practical, skills or performance tasks. Includes tests of clinical, laboratory, field or other skills in supervised environment
In person written or creative task. Observation and assessment of live written or creative tasks.
Q&A following presentation, submission or placement. Live question and answer session following a live performance, presentation, placement or submission of an artefact. Each of these could be constructed as two separate tasks, such as an Open assessment where a student makes a presentation using generative AI tools and a Secure assessment where a Q&A is used to assure the assessor that the student has the required knowledge.

Placement, internship or supervision – secured

These authentic assessments occur on placements, internships or other supervised environments such as workplaces. They require live supervision but this can occur as part of the work integrated learning experience. The use of generative AI and other tools is either prevented or restricted by the assessor as required.

Peer or expert observation or supervision. Live observation by a peer or expert or supervisor on a placement, internship or in another supervised environment.
In person practical or creative task. Live observation and assessment of practical or creative tasks on a placement, internship or in another supervised environment.
Clinical exam. Live clinical exam on a placement, internship or in another supervised environment.

Lane 2 - Open: scaffolding learning including use of appropriate technologies

Open assessments are for and as learning. Their primary aim is to develop students' disciplinary knowledge, skills, and dispositions. They ensure that our graduates have the ability to learn and prosper in the contemporary world through appropriately-designed tasks that support and scaffold the use of all available and relevant tools, including generative AI. The Open assessments are further categorised according to the types and levels of learning, based on Laurillard’s Conversational Framework (2013) and Bloom's Taxonomy. These task types also align with those used by the NSW Education Authority for school-based assessments. Open assessments should, wherever possible, be universally designed to minimise the need for additional adjustments.

Lane 2: Open Assessments are unsupervised assessments that provide students with authentic opportunities to receive feedback on their learning utilising any helpful resources and contemporary technologies. AI use may be purposefully incorporated, where helpful, to support students in developing disciplinary knowledge and skills alongside AI literacy. These focus on assessment for and as learning.

Students may use generative AI in helping them complete Open assessments under the guidance of educators on what is helpful and unhelpful for a given task or assessment. AI use cannot be prohibited*.

* There may be legal or research integrity requirements that need to be taken into consideration. Students must not provide to generative AI tools: content generated by another student, others' intellectual property (unless with permission), or personal or health information.

The table below summarises the Open assessments according to the type and level of learning they support. Where assessments also involve group work, they should also promote collaboration.

Open assessment category	Type of learning (Laurillard)	Level of learning (Bloom's)
Practice or application	Acquisition and practice	Remember, understand and apply
Inquiry or investigation	Investigation	Analyse, understand and evaluate
Production and creation	Production	Create and apply
Discussion	Discussion and collaboration	Understand, evaluate and create

Although these assessments are embedded at the unit of study level, alignment across the programs that the unit contributes to should ensure that students grow as learners through actionable feedback, the balance of different types of learning, and the staged development of the program's learning outcomes and skills.

Practice or application - open

Assessments in this category enable students to acquire knowledge and practice (Laurillard) through checking their knowledge and revising their approach based on feedback. These assessments help students remember and test their understanding of information and apply it (Bloom's). The use of generative AI tools is fully allowed and these are integrated into the tasks to help students learn by, for example, providing analogies, mnemonics and additional practice problems.

In-class quiz (single instance and multiple weeks). Quiz held in a live class such as a tutorial. Used for students to practice, apply or gauge their learning.
Out of class quiz. Quiz held asynchronously including online. Used for students to practice, apply or gauge their learning.
Practical skill. Development and application of technical, laboratory, creative, professional or other disciplinary skill in or out of class.

Inquiry or investigation - open

Assessments in this category enable students to develop inquiry and investigation (Laurillard) skills and to test their ability to analyse, understand and evaluate (Bloom's) data, information and sources. The use of generative AI tools is fully allowed and these are integrated into the tasks to help students learn by, for example, conducting literature searches, summarising sources and analysing data.

Experimental design. The process of planning and/or conducting investigations, including hypotheses and methods, in or out of class (e.g. scientific experiments, market research, creative testing, etc).
Data analysis. The process of collecting, analysing, and/or visualising data to generate and communicate meaningful insights (e.g. statistical analyses, qualitative coding, business intelligence, etc).
Case studies. The process of analysing real-world scenarios to identify problems, propose solutions, and/or justify decisions (e.g. business cases, patient scenarios, engineering problems, etc).
Research analysis. The critical examination and interpretation of research data, methodologies, and findings.

Production and creation - open

Assessments in this category enable students to apply their knowledge in the production (Laurillard) of artefacts such as reports, creative writing, presentations and performances. The process and the product of creation and applying knowledge (Bloom's) is assessed. The use of generative AI tools is fully allowed and these are integrated into the tasks to help students learn by, for example, helping brainstorm ideas and by using common productivity tools to assist with writing, drawing and media production.

Portfolio or journal. The production and curation of work samples, documentation, reflections, drafts, laboratory report, and/or other evidence and small writing tasks demonstrating development over time.
Performance. The creation and delivery of live or recorded performance (e.g. artistic, dramatic, musical, etc.) work.
Presentation. The production and delivery of live or recorded oral, visual, and/or multimedia communications for specific audiences.
Creative work. The creation and production of original and creative work, including short creative writing tasks.
Written work. The development and production of structured and/or long form writing (e.g. essay, report).
Dissertation or thesis. A written manuscript presenting the findings of a substantial original research project. Includes projects completed as part of an honours program.

Discussion - open

Assessments in this category enable students to share knowledge, and evaluate and defend their own and others' ideas and points of view through reflection, discussion and collaboration (Laurillard). These tasks enable students to understand and evaluate their own and others' ideas and points of view and create shared outcomes (Bloom's). The use of generative AI tools is fully allowed and these are integrated into the tasks to help students learn by, for example, brainstorming ideas, aiding students write reflections and summarising discussions.

Debate. A structured, evidence-based discussion held live or asynchronously where students present and defend positions using research, data, and/or disciplinary knowledge and applying critical thinking and argumentation skills.
Contribution. Meaningful participation in live or asynchronous environments demonstrating knowledge application, peer engagement, and/or advancement of collective understanding.
Conversation. A structured or informal dialogue demonstrating disciplinary knowledge, critical thinking, and/or communication skills (e.g. seminar discussions, professional interviews, client consultations, etc.)
Evaluation. Assessment of the quality of one's own and others' work by applying criteria to make informed and objective judgements.

Attendance - accreditation or faculty requirement

If required by accreditation bodies and/or faculty resolutions, 'Attendance' can be included in the assessment structure.