Assessment in Focus

Host Ishan Kolhatkar sits down with Professor Chie Adachi, Dean for Digital Education and Interim Academic Director for the Centre of Excellence in AI in Education at Queen Mary University of London.

For centuries, Western higher education has treated the written essay as the ultimate hallowed turf for demonstrating knowledge. But in the era of GenAI where text generation is common, is our obsession with writing actually holding students back from developing true, human-centered capabilities?

In this episode, our speakers tackle the shift from treating assessment as a high-pressure, punitive hurdle to celebrating it as a flexible, developmental tool that propels learning forward. As students universally utilise it for exam preparation and structuring thoughts, how can institutions embrace a balanced model of AI use?

In the fourteenth episode of the Assessment in Focus podcast, host Ishan Kolhatkar sits down with Professor Ian Pickup, Pro Vice Chancellor of Students at The Open University, for an open and honest conversation on the future of learning, grading, and academic integrity in the age of GenAI.

In the third episode of Season 2 of the Assessment in Focus podcast, host Ishan Kolhakkar sits down with Dr. Patricia Broadfoot, Professor Emeritus of the Sociology of Education at the University of Bristol, to dissect the profound evolution, systemic barriers, and uncertain future of educational assessment.

In this episode of Assessment in Focus, host Ishan Kolhatkar sits down with Professor Sam Brenton, Director of Lifelong Learning at the University of London, to challenge the traditional boundaries of higher education. In this episode, Sam argues that assessment is inherently a learning act. If we designed education from scratch today, learning and assessment would be seamlessly integrated, not divided.

In the season two premiere of Assessment in Focus, host Ishan Kolhatkar sits down with Naomi Winstone, Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Surrey and co-author of Designing Effective Feedback Processes in Higher Education.

In this episode, Naomi shares insights into how institutions can shift from high-stakes “grade justification” to meaningful, continuous learning. Whether you are looking for practical strategies to increase student engagement, curious about the realities of audio/video feedback, or navigating assessment redesign in the age of GenAI, this conversation is packed with actionable expertise.

Ishan is joined by Peter Alston, Dean of Education Services & Associate Professor of Educational Practice, and Laila Barbe, Associate Dean & Director of University Central Administration both at BPP University.

They visited Assessment in Focus to discuss ‘assessment for life’ – the concept of aligning assessments with future skills, overcoming digital transformation barriers by embracing change and leveraging leadership to drive innovation. And finally, transforming the student experience using digital tools.

Simon Trevers works in Inspera’s awarding bodies team and has collaborated with leading organizations in the UK and overseas, helping them achieve success in digital transformation. In this episode he joins Ishan Kolhatkar to discuss the importance of assessment integrity, global trends shaping the future of education, the critical need for accessibility in assessments and the importance of formative assessments.

The University of Queensland has a strong research focus and a reputation for teaching excellence. It is consistently ranked highly globally.

In this episode of Assessment in Focus, Dale Hansen, Learning Designer from the University of Queensland discusses the importance of innovating assessments, the need for easy-to-use technology, and the cultivation of a trusting culture within an educational environment.

The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) is part of the University of London and champions a global perspective to the challenges facing the world.

Joining Ishan in this episode are Stephanie Conway and Edel O’Neill, discussing students wanting to take their assessments digitally, student communication to drive engagement and assessment innovation.

This episode was recorded in March 2025. SOAS has since delivered their 2nd examination season using Inspera.

Instructure is a leader in edtech, known for the world’s #1 learning management system, Canvas. Inspera and Instructure work together to support the future of education through digital assessment.

In this episode of Assessment in Focus, Ryan Lufkin, VP of Global Academic Strategy, joins Ishan Kolhatkar to discuss AI literacy, the student/teacher relationship, and how mastery is shaping the future of assessment.

The University of Reading is a research-intensive UK university with a strong academic reputation.

In this new episode, Svetlana Mazhurnaya, Director of Academic English Assessment, and Phil Smyth, Deputy Director of Academic English Assessment at the International Study and Language Institute (ISLI) discuss collaboration between institutions when implementing new technology, the challenges of assessing a global study body and the use of AI in formative assessment.

South Arkansas College, based in El Dorado in Arkansas, offers a wide range of certificates and associate degrees.

Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Research, Christy Wilson and Professor of English, Dr James Yates, join Ishan to discuss how the future of assessment is about design orientation, how we teach critical thinking to students and how AI has changed the definition of academic integrity.

Joining Ishan on this episode is Professor Phillip Dawson, co-director of the Center for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (Cradle) at Deakin University in Australia. His research includes the topics of feedback literacy, artificial intelligence in assessment, and assessment design in the era of artificial intelligence.

Ishan and Phillip discuss feedback literacy, the skills required by academics and graduates now that AI content generation is ubiquitous, as well as reframing academic integrity. Does validity matter more than cheating?

Coventry University is headquartered in the Midlands, UK. They also have campuses in London and Scarborough in the northeast of the UK, and in Egypt, Morocco, and Poland, with hubs located in Singapore, Belgium, China, Rwanda. A truly global university.

This week, Professor Andrew Turner and Martin Jenkins from the University join Ishan Kolhatkar to discuss AI in assessment, the future and what they’ve learned in their own assessment practice.

University of London pivoted to digital assessment during the COVID lockdown and now processes ~100,000 online exams papers per year online. This week Ishan is joined by Dr Linda Amrane-cooper and Michael Sawyer from the University of London to discuss the future of assessment practices and the lessons they’ve learned from implementing digital assessment.