• AI in Education: Accelerating Assessment Creation and Evaluation

    September 6th, 2024

    A report by the UK Parliament highlights the immense potential of AI in “setting, marking, and grading of exams and assessed coursework.” However, the report also reveals that while the use of AI in education technology has grown in leaps and bounds, adoption in assessments has lagged significantly. While the market value of AI in education is forecasted to reach $84.73 billion by 2031, assessments are still confined to digitizing paper-based systems and automating administrative procedures.

    Here’s a deep dive into how leveraging AI tools for assessment authoring can be a game-changer for K12 publishers and education technology providers.

    Challenges Educators Face in Online Assessments

    • Creating assessments from scratch is a resource-intensive exercise when done manually, requiring time from educators that could be better spent in supporting students.
    • Keeping learners engaged with the assessments.
    • Incorporating diverse question formats to assess diverse learning skills.
    • Customizing assessments to individual needs and progress levels.
    • Ensuring the appropriateness of AI-enabled assessments.

    The AI Advantage

    Integrated learning management systems that include course and assessment platforms are key to harnessing the potential of AI in education. AI tools for K12 publishers can automate and refine assessment creation in several ways.

    Assessment Generation

    Effective assessments require a variety of questions that test all levels of learning, including knowledge, understanding, application, and creativity. Additionally, these must align with the learning objectives under different educational standards. A key benefit of AI for K12 publishers is to leverage the technology’s capability to assess, identify, and create. With the availability of data on learning goals, learner proficiencies, student preferences, and a pool of questions, AI tools can create detailed assessments that adapt to each student’s abilities. NLP-powered tools can even generate question databases to assist teachers.

    Assembly

    AI models are trained to incorporate diverse question formats, such as MCQs, quizzes, and short and long-form answers. These tools also create gamified assessments to alleviate performance-related stress among students. Interactive assessment elements can meaningfully engage students, improving learning efficacy. Online assessment solutions for K12 assemble a variety of questions for modular, formative, and summative assessments, taking into account learner levels, difficulty of questions, and expected learning outcomes.

    Analysis

    AI models can also evaluate the efficacy of assessments. Online assessment tools monitor the progress of learners, time spent on each question, number of attempts to qualify the assessment, and much more. AI tools in education also assess the effectiveness of feedback in driving learners further along their learning journeys, and closer to their learning goals. These insights can be used in AI assessment creation to improve evaluation quality. These help eliminate ineffective question items and assessment formats for each standard to refine the assessment process.

    Personalization

    Tailoring the learning journey to individual needs is one of the key aspects of AI in education. This encompasses administering assessments that align with the learner’s abilities, personal learning goals, and progress level. For slow learners, this may mean making topic-wise assessments more objective and repetitive. For fast learners, it could mean adding more challenges. In addition, assessments must cater to individual needs, such as adjustable font sizes, offering text-to-speech capabilities, option for video assessments, etc., to make assessments more accessible.

    Benefits of AI Assessment Creation

    According to the World Economic Forum, AI-enabled assessments can pinpoint learning trends and support the improvement of non-standardized tests. AI-powered assessment authoring tools offer a faster and more affordable way to create impactful assessments. These tools assess the relevance and difficulty level of each question and every assessment at scale, greatly simplifying the lives of K12 publishers. 

    AI assessment authoring tools for K12 publishers take over the gigantic task of personalizing assessments from teachers and educational publishers. Automated grading instills transparency and removes human bias. NLP-powered tools can also grade subjective questions, which can then be reviewed by teachers. This significantly amplifies the applications of AI in education.

    Moreover, comprehensive AI-powered course and assessment authoring tools ensure compliance with curriculum standards as well as online education and privacy regulations. Compliant K12 education technology enhances the chances of state adoption.

    Powering Through the AI Transition in Assessments

    The key to making the most of technological advancements is to choose the right online assessment tools. A good technique for K12 publishers to incorporate assessment authoring tools is to partner with an exceptional K12 education technology provider. Augmenting course authoring with AI assessment creation can be a market distinguisher for K12 publishers. The key to staying ahead of the competition is leveraging continuously evolving AI systems in education. Ensure that your technology provider has mechanisms to ensure that AI-powered assessments remain fair, accurate, and challengeable. Continued teacher- and stakeholder-led monitoring and real-time data for assessment authoring tools can be instrumental in ensuring that the assessments are equitable and reflective, rather than comparative.

    Backed by a team of experienced K12 education technology experts, the award-winning MagicBox™ platform offers AI-powered assessment authoring tools. Schedule a demo with the team NOW to learn how your publishing house can benefit from AI-powered online assessment solutions for K12.