As faculty know, Generative AI can produce polished work that may obscure what students actually know and can do. AI detection tools are little help in determining how much of the cognitive work a student really did, and they raise ethical concerns of their own. Rather than relying on detection tools to ensure the validity of assignments, a more productive approach is to redesign assignments to strengthen evidence of learning. With careful redesign, faculty can also protect student thinking by guarding against cognitive offloading to AI.
Designing AI-resistant assignments means taking a step back to connect learning activities to evidence of what students can do. In the process of redesigning assignments, consider the following approach, which we call Anchor, Stage, Verify (or ASV):
- Anchor: Connect the task to specific course evidence and a consequential disciplinary judgment. Identify what students must interpret, select, compare, or justify. Make that reasoning central to the task and criteria.
- Stage: Elicit a consequential decision from students before completion, then require that students respond to feedback. For example, an assignment might first require students to submit a focused piece of reasoning, which is then questioned by a peer or instructor. The assignment might then require revision or an evidence-based reason for retaining the non-revised version.
- Verify: Assess an individual demonstration of the same knowledge or reasoning targeted by the assignment. Specify the task, permitted assistance from AI or other tools (if any), administration conditions, and scoring criteria. Match the evidence to the claim about learning.
Regardless of their course modality – online, face-to-face, or hybrid – faculty can redesign assignments to strengthen evidence of learning. The linked slides and document walk through the steps of ASV in more detail and give examples to try in courses where assignments focus on interpretation, data analysis, or design tasks. The slides also provide information about Canvas affordances to support ASV, as well as academic integrity considerations when redesigning assignments.
Miami faculty can use the ASV Assessment Redesign Coach, a Gem within Miami’s Gemini environment, for personalized assistance and feedback on their own redesign challenges.
ASV and the accompanying resources were developed for a 2026 CTE Workshop. For more information, please feel free to contact the authors:
- Bonnie Erwin, Director of Online Operations, Miami Online ([email protected])
- Brenda Quaye, Assistant Director for Academic Integrity ([email protected])
- Ellen Yezierski, CTE Director and Professor of Chemistry ([email protected])
