The Role of Students’Assessment Literacies in Navigating University Assessment, GenAI, and Academic Integrity - Journal Article

Oct 15, 2026

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Academic integrity concerns related to students’ use of technology have renewed calls for teaching, assessment, and learning best practices, including approaches that involve and empower students. Empowerment is linked to developing students’ assessment literacies—contextual understanding, planning, undertaking assessment, and using assessment information to monitor and progress learning. A qualitative exploratory case study examined first-year university students’ experiences, emphasizing autonomy and empowerment while stressing reflexivity and assessment literacies for students and teachers.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages27

Reading Time1 h 8 min

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Abstract

Introduction

Background and Literature

Assessment and Assessment Literacies in University

The Role of Students’Assessment Literacies in Navigating University Assessment, GenAI, and Academic Integrity A journal of educational research and practice 2024 Vol. 33 (3) 30−56 [https://journals.library.brocku.ca/brocked](https://journals.library.brocku.ca/brocked) Tina Beynen* School of Linguistics and Language Studies, Carleton University Abstract Academic integrity concerns related to students’ use of technology have renewed calls for teaching, assessment, and learning best practices, including those that involve and empower students. Empowerment is a benefit of developing students’ assessment literacies , or how students contextually understand, plan, and undertake assessment and use assessment information to monitor and progress their learning. Informed by Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive theory and reflexivity (Dewey, 1933; Schön, 1983), a qualitative exploratory case study examined first-year university students’ experiences with assessment and the development of their assessment literacies. The findings highlighted student autonomy and empowerment benefits while stressing the importance of reflexivity and assessment literacies for both students and teachers. Teaching, assessment, and learning best practices commonly suggested to promote academic honesty in the GenAI context were also evident. Accordingly, this paper explores the role of students’ assessment literacies as part of these best practices, with implications for all levels of education. Keywords: student assessment literacies, academic integrity , GenAI , student empowerment , transition to university * tinabeynen@cmail.carleton.ca Introduction Technology-related academic dishonesty concerns are not new to higher education (HE) (e.g. , Eaton & Christensen Hughes, 2022) . However, the uptake of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has resulted in an escalation of these concerns (e.g. , Bin-Nashwan et al. , 2023; Eke, 2023; Sullivan et al. , 2023) . Reaction to GenAI in HE classrooms is varied from both the student (e.g. , Chan & Hu, 2023; Schiel et al. , 2023) and educator (e.g. , Kaplan-Rakowski et al. , 2023; Newell et al. , 2024) perspectives. Some educators have revived calls for formative, creative, authentic, and aligned assessments (e.g. , Bearman et al. , 2023; Rudolph et al. , 2023; Swiecki et al. , 2022) as a way to mitigate GenAI-related academic dishonesty concerns. Classroom assessment has evolved from summative assessment of learning, or a snapshot of learning at the end of a unit or course, to formative assessment for learning, where a continuous cycle of teaching, assessment, and learning is facilitated by feedback (Fox et al. , 2022) . More recently, formative assessment as learning has recognized the value of involving students in teaching, assessment, and learning processes (Earl, 2013) . The student autonomy and empowerment resulting from their involvement are shared benefits of developing students’assessment literacies (Nicol, 2009), or their contextual understanding of assessment, how they plan for and undertake assessment, and how they reflexively use assessment information to monitor and progress their learning. This paper draws from a qualitative exploratory case study that examined how first-year university students’ experiences with, knowledge of, and expectations about assessment impacted the development of their assessment literacies as they transitioned to university. The findings, when considered at the intersection of academic integrity and GenAI, highlight common grounding in teaching, assessment, and learning best practices. Accordingly, this paper explores the role of student assessment literacies as part of these best practices to promote academic honesty in the GenAI context, with implications for all levels of education. Background and Literature Assessment and Assessment Literacies in University The transition to university is an exciting but challenging time of social and intellectua

FAQs

What are students’ assessment literacies and why do they matter?

They refer to how students contextually understand assessment, plan and undertake it, and reflexively use assessment information to monitor and progress their learning. The paper links these literacies to empowerment and autonomy.

How does GenAI change academic integrity concerns in higher education?

The uptake of generative artificial intelligence escalates technology-related academic dishonesty concerns. The paper discusses varied reactions across students and educators and highlights best-practice responses in assessment.

What did the study find about first-year university students’ experiences?

The findings highlighted benefits of student autonomy and empowerment while stressing the importance of reflexivity and assessment literacies for both students and teachers. Teaching, assessment, and learning best practices supporting academic honesty in the GenAI context were also evident.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Blitz