Navigating the New Landscape: A Conceptual Model for Project-Based Assessment (PBA) in the Age of GenAI
This work tackles assessment design challenges for educators and curriculum designers in higher education as GenAI tools become widespread, offering a conceptual model to maintain robust and learner-centric practices.
The paper addresses how Generative AI challenges traditional project-based assessment in higher education by potentially compromising product authenticity and academic integrity, proposing a reimagined model that emphasizes process-oriented evaluation, multi-modal assessment, and ethical AI engagement to foster higher-order thinking.
The rapid integration of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) into higher education presents both opportunities and challenges for assessment design, particularly within Project-Based Assessment (PBA) contexts. Traditional assessment methods often emphasise the final product in the PBA, which can now be significantly influenced or created by GenAI tools, raising concerns regarding product authenticity, academic integrity, and learning validation. This paper advocates for a reimagined assessment model for Project-Based Learning (PBL) or a capstone project that prioritises process-oriented evaluation, multi-modal and multifaceted assessment design, and ethical engagement with GenAI to enable higher-order thinking. The model also emphasises the use of (GenAI-assisted) personalised feedback by a supervisor as an observance of the learning process during the project lifecycle. A use case scenario is provided to illustrate the application of the model in a capstone project setting. The paper concludes with recommendations for educators and curriculum designers to ensure that assessment practices remain robust, learner-centric, and integrity-driven in the evolving landscape of GenAI.