The mission of ESSEC Business School, a world school with French roots, is to infuse leadership with meaning in order to prepare leaders ready to address contemporary economic, environmental, and social challenges.
Nadia Kelmouss has worked with several institutions across Toulouse and Paris, contributing to numerous projects as a digital learning designer. Her experience spans from consulting agencies and the corporate sector to Higher Education Institutions.
With over 15 years of experience in education, Marion Marx has developed a comprehensive understanding of pedagogy, with a particular focus on digital learning. Her journey began as a classroom teacher and later evolved into online instruction. She has also worked in the corporate sector as a pedagogical advisor specializing in distance learning, before returning to higher education as an instructional designer.
The mission of ESSEC Business School, a world school with French roots, is to infuse leadership with meaning in order to prepare leaders ready to address contemporary economic, environmental, and social challenges.
Nadia Kelmouss has worked with several institutions across Toulouse and Paris, contributing to numerous projects as a digital learning designer. Her experience spans from consulting agencies and the corporate sector to Higher Education Institutions.
With over 15 years of experience in education, Marion Marx has developed a comprehensive understanding of pedagogy, with a particular focus on digital learning. Her journey began as a classroom teacher and later evolved into online instruction. She has also worked in the corporate sector as a pedagogical advisor specializing in distance learning, before returning to higher education as an instructional designer.
The rise of generative AI has presented both challenges and opportunities for institutions seeking to engage and assess their students effectively. However, rather than viewing this as a threat, the team at ESSEC Business School has taken a proactive approach, embracing the potential of AI to enhance the learning experience. By rethinking their assessment strategies and placing a greater emphasis on formative evaluation, particularly through self-assessment, ESSEC has been able to foster deeper student engagement and mitigate the risks associated with the misuse of generative AI.
This use case is based on Marion and Nadia ’s presentation at inspirED 2024 Teaching and Learning Conference.
As part of ESSEC's 2020-2024 strategic plan (RISE strategy), the institution introduced five mandatory Small Private Online Courses (SPOCs) for their 6,000 pre-experience students, covering key areas such as responsible leadership, AI for business, climate change, diversity and inclusion, and entrepreneurial thinking. These SPOCs were designed to provide a tailored educational experience for a specific community, in contrast with the traditional large-scale online courses.
However, the large scale of these SPOCs, with up to 600 students enrolled in a single course, presented a unique challenge for the ESSEC team. Navigating the complexities of assessment and engagement in this context became a critical priority, especially as the rise of generative AI threatened to undermine the integrity of traditional assessment methods.
As Marion remarked:
“Sometimes have about 600 students in the same model. This is our first huge challenge with an SPOC and with assessments of an SPOC.”
According to Nadia:
“In our original SPOCs, our assessment strategy was based on summative assessments, relying on automatically graded activities like multiple-choice questions, for example. Also, large online classes make it unrealistic for one single grader to grade hundreds of essays.”
Recognizing the limitations of traditional summative assessments in the face of generative AI, the ESSEC team decided to shift their focus towards formative evaluation, with a particular emphasis on self-assessment. Nadia emphasized:
“So, this challenge led us to adapt by focusing on formative assessment and the concept of significant learning. And this way, we aim not only to assess students but also to engage them in a deeper and more meaningful learning process. And to do that, we had to create meaningful learning experiences.”
This strategic decision was informed by the principles of Fink's taxonomy of significant learning, which highlights the importance of developing skills for independent learning, fostering personal connections and values, and promoting self-awareness and understanding of others. The ESSEC team decided to focus on three of these learning dimensions, which are: “learning how to learn, caring, and human dimension.”
Based on the Fink theoretical model, formative assessment was prioritized with the following goals:
To put their new assessment strategy into practice, the ESSEC team leveraged the capabilities of the FeedbackFruits Teaching & Learning system, which they found to be designed with a strong pedagogical foundation, rather than simply adapting a technical tool to educational needs.
The key elements of ESSEC's self-assessment approach within their SPOCs include:
Additionally, the ESSEC team introduced a unique "ValueBot" character powered by AI, which appeared before each assessment activity to provide students with clear instructions and encouragement. This playful and engaging approach helped to foster a positive mindset towards evaluation, positioning it as an opportunity for growth and learning rather than a source of stress or anxiety.
To assess the effectiveness of their self-assessment approach, the ESSEC team closely analyzed the results from their "Diversity & Inclusion in the Workplace" SPOC. By comparing the introductory self-assessment with the final self-assessment, they were able to gain valuable insights into the impact of their new assessment strategy.
The key findings from their analysis include:
“So, what we can conclude of these results anyway, these results suggest that students took the time to craft responses that were long enough, and well-structured, but maybe there is a need to work with a teacher to encourage them to ask questions that would encourage deeper personal reflection from the students.”
The ESSEC team was particularly encouraged by the quality and depth of the student responses, which included reflections on personal biases, plans to prioritize diversity and inclusion in future leadership roles, and a commitment to continuously questioning one's behavior and its impact on others.
The ESSEC team's experience with implementing self-assessment in their SPOCs has produced valuable insights and lessons that can inform the ongoing evolution of their assessment strategies:
Trusting Learners and Fostering Autonomy: By placing a greater emphasis on self-assessment and reducing the weight of traditional summative evaluations, the ESSEC team has found that students are more willing to take responsibility for their learning and engage more deeply with the course material. This shift in approach has helped to foster a sense of autonomy and ownership among the learners, which is crucial for promoting meaningful and lasting learning outcomes.
Iterating and Refining the Assessment Process: The ESSEC team acknowledges that their self-assessment approach is still a work in progress, and they are committed to continuously iterating and refining their methods based on feedback and ongoing evaluation. This includes revisiting the criteria used to assess the depth of personal reflection, as well as exploring ways to further streamline the analysis of student responses, potentially through the use of more advanced natural language processing tools.
Leveraging the Pedagogical Foundations of EdTech Tools: The ESSEC team's experience with FeedbackFruits has highlighted the importance of selecting educational technology tools that are designed with a strong pedagogical foundation, rather than simply adapting technical solutions to educational needs. By prioritizing tools that are grounded in sound educational principles, institutions can better align their assessment strategies with their broader learning objectives and create more impactful learning experiences for their students. As Nadia remarked:
“It was the first time I encountered a tool that has this powerful foundational approach. And at this time, I knew that we could truly create something impactful with it.”
The ESSEC team's journey in fostering learner engagement through self-assessment serves as a powerful example of how institutions can proactively address the challenges posed by generative AI in online education. By shifting their focus towards formative evaluation and empowering students to take ownership of their learning, ESSEC has been able to create a more engaging and meaningful educational experience, while also mitigating the risks associated with the misuse of AI tools.
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