the educator mag May 24 (1) - Flipbook - Page 27
AI-Powered Test Creation
AI technology is rapidly changing the education
landscape, capable of automating tasks that are often
the most time-consuming, such as assessment creation.
Manually developing high-quality assessments is labourintensive and requires significant expertise. The use of
AI-powered tools can streamline this process by rapidly
generating tailored item (question) banks on any topic,
making test development more efficient and making
content authors more productive.
For example, Learnosity’s AI-powered tool, Author Aide,
streamlines the process of creating assessments, boosting
output by as much as 10x. With tools like Author Aide,
teachers have the ability to build item banks (banks of
questions that can be organised by topic and used within
various assessment formats) quickly, freeing up more time
to focus on their students.
Personalised Learning with AI
Similarly, there will likely come a day where AI will be
able to assist with creating personalised teaching plans
designed to meet the needs of each specific student.
In this scenario, rather than having to develop rigid ‘one-sizefits-all’ curriculums, AI could potentially assist teachers with
developing adaptive learning journeys tailored to individual
students' needs.
Delivering personalised learning that provides the most value
to students without stretching teachers impossibly thin is at
this point in time, very difficult, if not impossible. The hope
across the industry is that the next step with AI is making this
type of teaching much more achievable, but we aren’t there
yet.
It’s worth noting too, as with any disruptive technology, that
all these benefits come with a measure of risk. From bias,
test cheating, and AI’s tendency to ‘hallucinate’ or make false
claims with a tone of authority, there are still significant
challenges when dealing with AI. It’s why keeping AI as a
tool and teachers as the driving force is so vital when moving
towards the opportunities AI can provide.
And it’s clear the opportunities are there for the taking.
More teachers are now open to using tools like Author Aide
and responding positively to its benefits, seeing it as a
support and supplement to their own efforts.
The burden on teachers extends well beyond creating tests
and instructional materials. Providing individualised feedback
and calibrating lessons to each student's needs is also an
immense challenge with traditional methods. This is where
AI-powered tools can be transformative.
The Bottom Line
Feedback, for example, can be a more efficient process in
which AI can make the first pass at analysing work or
performance and generate the initial feedback, leaving
teachers to review and amend, saving huge amounts of time.
Ultimately, AI is not, and should never be, a replacement for
teachers, but rather a complementary tool to support and
augment their vital work. From enhancing efficiency and
automating tedious tasks, AI can allow educators to focus on
what they do best: having meaningful student interactions.
