Publication Type
Blog Post
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
9-2025
Abstract
In ‘Reimagining Academic Assessment in the Age of AI’, Matthew Hammerton examines the challenges and opportunities posed by generative AI for higher education assessment. He critiques common responses like banning AI, reverting to in-class exams, or abandoning essays altogether, arguing that they fail to preserve the deeper pedagogical goals of higher order, independent thinking. Instead, Hammerton proposes a guiding principle of intellectual responsibility: students should be accountable for explaining and defending each major choice in their work—regardless of whether they use AI tools. To operationalise this, he advocates for reintegrating oral examinations (‘vivas’) alongside written essays. In this model, students submit their essays and then engage in short oral dialogues with instructors to demonstrate understanding, defend their arguments, and reveal their intellectual process. While acknowledging practical constraints (e.g. time, faculty workloads), Hammerton argues that such investment is essential if universities are to maintain their distinctive role in cultivating critical thinking, judgment, and human agency in an era when many traditional tasks can be automated.
Keywords
Artificial intelligence, take-home essay, Generative AI, Academic integrity
Discipline
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics | Digital Humanities
Research Areas
Humanities; Integrative Research Areas
Areas of Excellence
Digital transformation
Publisher
Edward Elgar
Citation
HAMMERTON, Matthew, "Reimagining academic assessment in the age of AI" (2025). Research Collection School of Social Sciences. Paper 4236.
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/4236
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/4236
Copyright Owner and License
Author
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.