Authentic assessment is a widely discussed concept in higher education, but it has a problem: the concept has become so all-encompassing that its meaning is now unclear. The notion has been expanded and diluted. For example, adding social justice to the definition or positioning exams as authentic, adds to the contradictions inherent within in the…

This article presents a brief overview of the state-of-the-art in large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and discusses the difficulties that these technologies create for educators with regard to assessment. Making use of the 'arms race' metaphor, this article argues that there are no simple solutions to the 'AI problem'. Rather, this author…

The use of artificial intelligence in academia is a hot topic in the education field. ChatGPT is an AI tool that offers a range of benefits, including increased student engagement, collaboration, and accessibility. However, is also raises concerns regarding academic honesty and plagiarism. This paper examines the opportunities and challenges of…

Various factors such as regulatory body mandates, graduate employability challenges, decreasing student engagement and increasing academic misconduct in higher education have motivated universities to explore alternative approaches to teach and assess. Accordingly, the oral assessment has taken precedence in many contexts as a popular form of…

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, particularly OpenAI's ChatGPT, has significantly impacted higher education institutions (HEIs), offering opportunities and challenges. While these tools enhance personalized learning and content generation, they threaten academic integrity, especially in assessment environments.…

With the operationalisation of lockdowns and restrictions on public gatherings, education systems across the entire globe were confronted with an urgent need to reconsider alternative forms of teaching, learning and assessment. Some institutions in developing countries were especially hard-hit by the shift owing to inadequacies in training and…

Background: Online learning has grown significantly during the past two decades, and COVID-19 pandemic has expedited this process. However, previous research has shown how academic dishonesty is more prevalent under these modalities. Therefore, there is the challenge of performing trustworthy remote assessments, in order to obtain valid and…

The global surge in academic misconduct during the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbated by remote teaching and online assessment, necessitates a comprehensive understanding of the multidimensional aspects and stakeholders' perspectives associated with this issue. This paper addresses the prevalent use of answer-providing sites and other types of…

A key role of universities is the credentialing of student learning by awarding degrees and diplomas. This requires universities to have confidence in the integrity of their assessment processes and in turn, external stakeholders to have the same confidence. This study investigates the following research question: 'Has COVID-19 had an impact on…

Cheating has been a long-standing issue in university assessments. However, the release of ChatGPT and other free-to-use generative AI tools has provided a new and distinct method for cheating. Students can run many assessment questions through the tool and generate a superficially compelling answer, which may or may not be accurate. We ran a…

This article presents a literature review of published research focused on challenging cheating in higher education. A brief overview of the literature on cheating in higher education is offered, showing the global interest in the topic, the varied ways in which it has been defined, and evidence on its incidence and causes. The range of methods…

The hasty adoption of remote teaching (RT) by educational institutes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically impacted teaching, learning, and assessment. With most institutes unprepared for sudden lockdowns, and many educators lacking online teaching and assessment experience, old methods of assessment continued to be used, at least…

The perception that academic fraud is widespread in higher education affects the credibility of higher education schools, giving rise to doubts concerning the quality of learning and the students' preparation for their professional life. Academic misconduct is presently a common research area. However, higher education schools still seem unable to…

This commentary paper examines the issue of contract cheating in higher education, drawing on research and current debate in the field of academic integrity. Media coverage of this issue has reflected significant concerns in the field about students' use of custom academic writing services, along with sector and national calls for action that…

Contract cheating presents an existential threat to university assessment integrity and, therefore, to the reputations of universities and their graduates. We report on two workshops, with academic development participants who collaboratively addressed assessment identity verification through problem identification and solution creation. As…