What are secure assessments?
Secure assessments are supervised tasks that directly evaluate a student's individual achievement of learning outcomes. These tasks may be conducted in person or online, and supervision can be human- or technology-based.
What defines a secure assessment is not the format, but the confidence it provides in the authenticity of students' works. These tasks are designed so educators can make trustworthy judgments about what students know and can do.
Secure assessments are essential - but they are not the whole picture. When combined with well-designed open assessments, they ensure students are prepared both to demonstrate individual capabilities and to apply their learning in complex, real-world contexts.
At ACU, we use a balanced strategy for assessment that incorporates secure and open assessments to create a valid, inclusive and future-focused learning experience for our students.
Secure assessments:
- Are in real-time and/or are interactive, such as interactive oral assessments, or practical demonstrations.
- Involve restricted or full use of generative GenAI, depending on what the task is assessing and the discipline requires.
- Include scaffolded preparation that builds students' GenAI literacy, where applicable.
- Accommodate reasonable adjustments for students as per the 'Students with Disabilities' Policy.
Why use secure assessments?
Secure assessments are a crucial part of a balanced assessment strategy. They:
- Ensure assessment validity by confirming students' own capabilities.
- Help meet external accreditation or professional requirements where individual performance must be verified.
- Support TEQSA's call for institutions to make "trustworthy judgments about student learning in a time of AI" (TEQSA, 2024).
- Are not designed to eliminate GenAI entirely - rather, they are designed to allow GenAI use where it is educationally appropriate, while ensuring confidence in the learning demonstrated.
Secure assessments in an online environment
In online courses, such as those offered through ACU Online, secure assessments remain essential for assuring the integrity and credibility of student achievement.
Secure assessments in a fully online context can include:
- Timed online exams using virtual proctoring tools that record or monitor student activity during assessment.
- Oral assessments conducted via scheduled video calls, where students explain or defend their work.
- Interactive tasks such as live coding challenges, structured case analysis, or simulations, where responses are captured in real time.
- Written tasks that are completed using technologies that monitor students' writing behaviours.
To ensure equity and effectiveness, educators designing secure assessments for completely online learning would consider:
- Clear communication of assessment conditions.
- Scaffolded preparation, especially where new technologies (such as proctoring or GenAI tools) are involved.
- Accessibility and inclusion, ensuring reasonable adjustments are made for students with diverse needs or limited internet/technology access.
- Time-zone sensitivity and flexible windows, especially for oral tasks, to accommodate asynchronous learners.
How to plan for secure assessments
Designing secure assessment is optimised through three coordinated steps:
