University assessment and quality assurance

Strategies to improve university assessment for students and educators. Here, academics offer guidance on assessment design, covering formative, summative and diagnostic approaches, authentic assessment and how to give useful feedback. You will also find advice on exam preparation, ungrading, managing GenAI, preventing cheating and upholding academic integrity.

By Laura.Duckett , 17 June, 2026

Feedback is a skill to be taught, not assumed

Students in a lecture hall working on essays
Comments such as ‘This is a good essay’ might reassure but won’t help a writer improve. Here’s how to show students what strong and weak peer feedback looks like
Reading time
4minutes
By Eliza.Compton , 27 May, 2026

Defining and developing students’ critical AI literacy

Magician conjuring magic out of a hat
By the time they arrive at university, most students are using AI. So, with the lines between AI use and original work increasingly blurred, academia now needs to teach them how to use the tools critically
Reading time
4minutes
By Eliza.Compton , 22 May, 2026

Assessing critical thinking in critical times

Concept of levelling up university assessment in response to GenAI
The advent of generative AI plus questions about the relevance of higher education call for a closer look at how critical thinking skills are taught and measured. Kate Williams offers ways to level up traditional assessment formats
Reading time
4minutes
University assessment and quality assurance