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The global assessment market is increasingly digitising and automating its services.
In recent years, the rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies has opened up new possibilities and aspirations. As a result, AI has been a buzzword on people’s lips, but what are the opportunities, benefits and risks of AI for assessment?
As one of the world’s leading digital assessment providers, RM is taking a long-term, proactive view of AI to ensure the integrity of assessment processes that utilise it, giving confidence to exam boards, awarding bodies, politicians, learners, and parents everywhere.
On Wednesday 12th February, RM held it’s Spring Conference at the International Baccalaureate offices in Cardiff, 'Bridging AI and Assessment' attended by around 100 of our educator and accreditor partners and almost the same number of attendees taking part online, exploring how AI could be used ethically in assessment – driving better learner outcomes without diminishing the vital role of human expertise.
The whole event was compered by Kieron Williams, Business Growth Director at RM, who said: “The reason why it was so important to put this event on was for RM to engage with the entire customer base, to really get a community spirit around how AI is going to evolve in the assessment space, both in the short, long and medium terms.”
RM’s Proof of Concept Projects
To lay the foundations and kick-start this approach, RM initiated two of its own Proof of Concept (PoC) projects focusing on English language testing; the first of these on the assessment of proficiency in English as a foreign language and the other on summative assessment of English language skills in schools.
Through these PoC projects, RM illustrated its approach, exploring and evaluating the use of AI within assessment to enhance marking processes, improve feedback quality, provide authentic experiences and ultimately drive continually improving learner outcomes. These PoCs seek to illustrate the potential of AI and the opportunities it presents when used in a responsible manner.
AI Marking: An ethical approach
In a groundbreaking presentation on AI-assisted marking, Dr. Gráinne Watson shared insights from the two innovative PoCs that demonstrated remarkable accuracy in automated assessment.
Working with both English as a Foreign Language and English Language exams, her team developed a secure AI system that demonstrated that AI doesn’t just mark at the equivalent level to human markers, but that it can improve outcomes.
By combining real student data with synthetic responses and implementing rigorous validation processes, the team created a system that complements rather than replaces human judgment.
The project represents a significant step forward in ethical AI implementation within educational assessment.
We have written a paper announcing the results of these PoCs and hope it will provide insight and encouragement to customers and prospects to partner with us on a PoC project on our AI journey.
Experts in AI and Assessment Debated
We were lucky to have such a large group of amazing speakers, panellists and guests at the event. Our amazing speakers, panellists and guests for made the day a success, sharing insights and asking thought provoking questions.
Our panel discussions included our customers:
Richard Eckersley (ICAEW), Sara Pierson (OUP), Dr. Matt Glanville (IB), Paul Houghton (NEBOSH)
and AI experts:
Dr. Tom Chatfield, Tim Burnett, Dr. Rob Harrison, Lynsey Meakin, Dr. Gráinne Watson (RM)
There was a lively debate about why it's essential to keep humans in the loop and not rely on AI to be a magical solution.
The event was brought to a close by Mark Cook, CEO of RM, who reminded the audience that the main purpose of RM is to enrich the lives of learners and that that was important to keep at the forefront when thinking about what we are trying to achieve with AI in assessment. Mark said: “We're not here to sell replacing summative marking with AI marking. We're not here to do that. We're here to create a community and a safe place that we can have these discussions.”
All recordings from ‘Bridging AI and Assessment' are now available to watch.
Following this event, we’ll be collaborating on a range of proof of concepts with our customers to explore how AI can be used safely and securely to enrich the lives of learners. By partnering with us in a proof of concept, our customers will gain early access to innovative AI-driven solutions designed to reduce their workload while enhancing marking accuracy and delivering personalised learner feedback.
Find out more: https://content.rmresults.com/ai-marking-poc
AI will never replace the brilliant minds in our sector, but it can enhance, support, and innovate the way we assess learning.
RM is proud to be leading the way in this exciting space!
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