The Human Advantage: Quality Assurance in the Age of AI

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how students learn, how faculty teach, and how institutions assess learning. As AI becomes increasingly embedded in higher education, it also raises fundamental questions about what it means to demonstrate authentic student learning—and how quality assurance can keep pace.

The Human Advantage: Quality Assurance in the Age of AI brought together three leading voices from assessment, accreditation, and higher education quality to explore the challenges and opportunities AI presents for academic quality. The webinar examined the evolving landscape of assessment and student learning in an age when AI can increasingly generate, assist with, and transform student work.

We heard from:

Angela Yung-Chi Hou, Ph.D.

Distinguished Professor in the College of Education at National Chengchi University in Taiwan and Editor-in-Chief of Higher Education Evaluation & Development (HEED).

Leann McArthur

Senior Customer Success Manager at Turnitin (United States).

The session was chaired by:

Dr. Leah Matthews

INQAAHE Board Director and Executive Director of the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC, United States).

The discussion addressed key issues facing assessment, authentic student learning, academic integrity, and evidence of educational effectiveness, while placing these challenges within the broader context of quality assurance in higher education. Panelists considered how institutions and quality assurance organizations can respond thoughtfully to AI without losing sight of the essential human dimensions of education—including critical thinking, meaningful engagement, judgment, creativity, and the development of student capabilities.

The webinar explored questions such as:

• How is AI changing the way institutions assess and demonstrate student learning?
• What does authentic assessment look like in an AI-enabled learning environment?
• How can institutions distinguish between the productive use of AI and the replacement of student learning?
• What new evidence should institutions consider when demonstrating educational quality and student achievement?
• How should accreditors and quality assurance organizations respond to rapidly evolving AI technologies?
• Most importantly, what remains uniquely human in learning—and how can quality assurance ensure that the human advantage is preserved?

This timely conversation offered perspectives for institutional leaders, faculty, assessment professionals, accreditors, and quality assurance practitioners seeking to navigate the intersection of AI, assessment, student learning, and educational quality.