More Integrity and Motivation in Online Assessments

The increasing digitalization of higher education – along with the recent surge in generative AI – raises fundamental questions about the quality of assessments at universities. This issue is especially relevant for UniDistance Suisse, whose pedagogical model is entirely based on remote teaching and assessment.

While many institutions have responded with a return to in-person exams or by relying on more intensive technological surveillance, the research project «Re-imagining online assessments of the future»explored a third way: rethinking the very notion of quality in online assessments.

The project was conducted in a participatory manner under the leadership of EDUDL+, in collaboration with teachers, students, institutional leaders and educational experts from both Swiss and international institutions, including the Universities of Basel, Edinburgh, Lausanne and Lund, the Gymnasium am Münsterplatz in Basel, HES-SO Valais-Wallis, IDIAP in Martigny, the Open University (UK), TELUQ (Canada), and UniDistance Suisse.

The research identified a set of quality criteria for online assessments. It advocates for the development of exam formats that foster students’ autonomous motivation while ensuring the authenticity and authorship of their submitted work. Assessments should be meaningful, support learner autonomy and reduce stress by reinforcing students’ sense of competence.

Concrete proposals are summarised in the table below: