Assessment Technology

This assignment is particularly interesting for me because I teach Digital Animation and Game Programming. I also spent a few years as a Business Analyst with a focus on process improvement before becoming an instructor. Basically, I have spent a good portion of my career asking, “Why are we still doing things this way?” and implementing automation. So, I am pro-technology, pro-AI and pro-automation. I am also working on turning my entire curriculum into a game. Oh course, all of this is with guardrails.

Here is where I might upset a few fellow educators but stick with me.

As someone who loves process improvement and considers himself a change agent, I believe that if something can be automated without reducing quality, especially if it improves quality, there is little reason not to automate it, this includes teaching.

Now, before anyone starts looking for their pitchforks and torches, I do not believe teachers can be replaced. It would take extensive research, repeated trials and testing across many different educational environments, conducted and independently replicated by multiple research teams, to convince me otherwise. Not the one-trial-and-done type of research we sometimes seem satisfied with in education.

Replacing teachers also goes against many of the established principles and evidence-based practices of pedagogy. However, I do believe AI could eventually take over much of the instructional and mentoring role within andragogy and heutagogy, where learners have greater independence and responsibility for their learning.

But there is still something uniquely human about teaching and mentoring. The ability to draw on personal life experiences, recognize subtle emotional reactions and adjust an approach based on the countless combinations of human emotions, behaviors and circumstances is incredibly difficult to replicate. AI may be able to recognize patterns and simulate empathy, but I am not convinced it can truly replace the judgment, relationships and lived experiences that an effective teacher or mentor brings to learning.

Selwyn raises an important distinction in his discussion with Young (2021). Just because technology can replace something does not mean it should. I agree, but I also believe we cannot reject innovation simply because it changes someone's job. History is full of occupations disappearing, evolving and being new occupations created through innovation. That does not mean we should ignore the people affected, but preserving a process simply because it already exists is not a good enough reason.

With all that out of the way, it brings me to my biggest concern about technology and assessment.

Are we measuring students' ability to complete assignments or are we measuring what they actually learn and retain?

A student can complete every programming assignment, earn impressive scores and still struggle to explain how their code works a week later. Technology can make that problem better or worse. Ybarra (2025) discusses shifting assessment away from the finished product and toward the learning process. This is exactly where I believe technology has the greatest potential.

For Sandbox Assessment #10, JavaScript: Behind the Game, students use Book Creator to demonstrate how a working game mechanic operates. They must explain the code, trace the decisions being made and demonstrate two different outcomes. This authentic assessment uses a performance-based assessment approach to make students' understanding visible.

Kafai and Burke (2016) emphasize the value of students creating, testing and reflecting on games. Their discussion of metacognition reinforces why I want students explaining their thinking rather than simply producing functioning code.

My curriculum game could eventually automate feedback, track progress and recommend practice. AI could help identify patterns I might miss. But neither a completed quest nor an automatically generated score guarantees learning.

That is where the guardrails come in.

I want technology handling repetitive work and helping reveal evidence of learning, while teachers retain the responsibility to interpret that evidence, challenge students and make informed decisions.

Automation should make us better at teaching, not simply faster at grading… Although that helps too.

References

Kafai, Y. B., & Burke, Q. (2016). Connected gaming: What making video games can teach us about learning and literacy. MIT Press.

Ybarra, S. (2025, July 22). Beyond the take-home essay: How AI is reshaping assessment in digital learning. Online Learning Consortium. https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/olc-insights/2025/07/beyond-the-take-home-essay/

Young, J. R. (2021, October 5). Should robots replace teachers? EdSurge. https://www.edsurge.com/news/2021-10-05-should-robots-replace-teachers

ChatGPT - Used for the image and title.

Technology Should Reveal Learning, Not Just Measure Performance