Measuring What Students Can Actually Do

The big idea:

Technology, especially AI, is making assessment easier, more authentic, and more scalable for adult learners by shifting the focus from seat time to demonstrated skills.

Why it matters:

Assessment is where most learning friction lives. When done poorly, it pushes faculty back to multiple-choice tests that fail to show what students can actually do.

What’s changing:

• Performance-based assessment at scale: Technology reduces scheduling, scoring, and evidence-capture burdens.
• AI as a faculty amplifier: Generative AI helps draft rubrics, simulations, and scenarios, freeing faculty to focus on judgment and feedback.
• Simulations over tests: Learners demonstrate skills in real-world scenarios, not artificial exam conditions.
• Beyond the transcript: Digital credentials and learning records make competencies portable and employer-relevant.

Bottom line:

Making higher education easier is not about lowering rigor. It is about measuring what matters.