Navigating assessment in the age of AI: What counts as cheating?

Join two former teachers – Libby Hills from the Jacobs Foundation and AI researcher Owen Henkel – for the Ed-Technical podcast series about AI in education.

Each episode, guest hosted on BOLD, Libby and Owen will ask experts to help educators sift the useful insights from the AI hype. They’ll be asking questions such as “How does AI really help students and teachers?”, “What do we actually know about this technology, and what’s just speculation?” and “When we say ‘AI’, what are we actually talking about?”

In the sixth episode of this series, Libby and Owen talk to Matt Glanville, Director of Assessment at the International Baccalaureate (IB). The IB works with over 5,000 schools worldwide in 160 countries to offer a range of curriculum programmes and qualifications. Early last year they shared their progressive stance on AI – rather than banning AI tools to try to prevent cheating, they recognize that they will become part of everyday life, and therefore students need support to use them ethically, transparently, and safely. 

Matt (another ex-teacher ❤) talks about IB’s position and how they deal with cheating. We discuss what’s new about cheating in a post-ChatGPT world and what isn’t (spoiler – malicious and determined cheating isn’t a new problem for schools). Matt poses some provocative questions about how we define cheating. Is it cheating to use large language models (LLMs) to give you ideas for your essay? What about having an LLM write an essay using the ideas you give it? We also touch on the implications for formal assessments. Will oral exams make a comeback?

Most importantly, we introduce Owen to Mills & Boon. 

Guests and resources

• The International Baccalaureate’s AI resources and content 
• The International Baccalaureate’s March 2023 statement about ChatGPT and AI
• Matt talking about IB’s position on AI at the ACES annual meeting