Brisbane uni expands exam hours to combat AI – and students aren’t happy
Students at the University of Queensland were treated to a harsh shock ahead of their first lecture on Monday; In-term exam schedules have been extended to Friday nights and Sundays.
A memo sent to students pointed out the need for more face-to-face exams, and Vice-Chancellor Professor Kris Ryan attributed this to the increased use of artificial intelligence.
First-year music and law students Ciara and Izzy said discussions among other students online centered on the desire to limit college attendance to weekdays.
“I think the growing trend is to not have that anymore, but people need work, people need time, and I agree with all of that,” Ciara said.
“They were very upset [online] He said some exams were held on the weekend.”
Mid-term exams, held in addition to end-of-term exams, precede larger mid-year assessment tasks and were previously held between Mondays and Saturdays.
According to the new timetable, exams can be scheduled as early as 7.15pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, or as early as 8am on three days.
In the letter sent to students, it was stated that there would be a “significant increase in the number of exams during the semester”. In the first semester this will include two full weekends between March and April and Saturday 2 May.
Ethan, a sophomore advanced humanities student, said the change reduces flexibility on these weekends.
“Last year, I had mid-term exams for all my subjects, and I think a lot of people have professors and teachers saying there will be an increase in exams,” Ethan said.
The vice-chancellor said the AI response forms part of teaching redesigns for all the university’s courses.
“As part of this change, we are moving to more personalized and secure assessments,” Ryan said.
“We recognize that extending these deadlines may create difficulties for some students.”
He said the University of Queensland stood ready to work with students to offer support and ensure the expanded course schedule did not disadvantage students.
The institution was also “actively exploring long-term approaches to better meet the growing need for in-person testing”.
Professor Niusha Shafiabady, head of the information technology discipline at the Australian Catholic University, said face-to-face exams were a “temporary solution” to artificial intelligence.
“When assessment can be so easily solved by AI, the problem may be that the assessment itself is not authentic,” Shafiabady said.
“This doesn’t actually measure student learning and thinking process.”
Shafiabady said that although ethical AI use is a teachable skill, some of the higher education sector remains reluctant to use the technology.
“We’re not avoiding AI anymore, and I don’t think anyone is, but there’s still some kind of fear around AI,” he said.
“We think AI is a magic box, and we think it’s something we don’t understand.”
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