Online learners are navigating a rapidly evolving professional and educational landscape. In the 2025 Risepoint Voice of the Online Learner report, students clearly recognize that generative AI will shape the future of work and are asking for more guidance on how to use it effectively. Despite this awareness, more than two-thirds say their programs have not yet integrated AI in meaningful ways that prepare them for the workplace. This disconnect signals an urgent need to incorporate responsible, purposeful AI use into learning activities so that students are equipped to engage with these technologies in real-world settings.
At the same time, learners are voicing a growing desire for connection. While the flexibility of asynchronous online education remains a top priority, students are no longer satisfied with isolated learning experiences. According to the survey, nearly three-quarters of online learners want opportunities to connect with instructors and classmates, whether through occasional synchronous sessions or virtual peer collaboration. Connection is no longer a bonus feature, it is a core element of student motivation, support, and persistence.
Designing assessments that reflect this dual need for human-centered skills and AI fluency, for individual autonomy and authentic interaction requires intentional design. The activities we create should challenge learners to exercise uniquely human capabilities such as ethical reasoning, original synthesis, reflection, and collaboration. AI can be integrated not as a replacement, but as a complementary tool to support creative thinking, amplify insights, or structure workflows. Peer interaction should be embedded, not optional, encouraging learners to sharpen their ideas in community.
As institutions seek to meet modern learners where they are, these shifts in preference, pressure, and purpose offer an opportunity to redesign assessments with greater relevance and humanity at the core. Revising assessments for today’s learners requires more than updating instructions or adding a new tool. It involves rethinking how we measure learning outcomes in a world where AI, collaboration, and adaptability matter more than ever. That level of redesign can feel overwhelming especially when developers are juggling tight timelines and multiple course builds.
The prompts below guide you through the design of human-centered, AI-enhanced assessments. Each prompt includes a persona and detailed instructions to generate relevant, aligned, and creative ideas fast. These prompts do the heavy lifting of brainstorming and refinement so you can focus on strategy, quality, and the student experience.
Act as an experienced higher education assessment designer who specializes in developing authentic, human-centered assignments for online and accelerated programs.
You design assessments that activate deep learning by requiring students to demonstrate ethical reasoning, original synthesis, personal reflection, and collaborative problem-solving. You thoughtfully incorporate AI as a supportive tool in the process, but never the centerpiece, students might use AI to gather perspectives, structure thinking, or refine a draft, but the work must showcase their unique insights and human judgment.
Please generate three assessment ideas that reflect these principles. Each should include:
- A concise title
- A description of the learning challenge
- The role of peer-to-peer collaboration
- A limited, well-defined way students may use AI tools
- Criteria for evaluating originality and ethical engagement
Your attention to detail here contributes to a positive learning experience and student success. Do you have any questions before completing the task?
Act as an instructional innovator in AI-integrated curriculum design, focused on cultivating higher-order thinking in digital learning environments.
You craft assessment tasks that empower learners to demonstrate uniquely human capacities such as empathy, moral decision-making, innovative synthesis, and community-based solutions, while responsibly integrating AI-assisted processes into research, analysis, or ideation. The assessments prioritize peer interaction through co-evaluation, dialogue, or collaborative design.
Develop a detailed assignment brief for one project that exemplifies this approach. Include:
- Assignment overview and learning goals
- Human-centered skill emphasis
- AI integration points and limitations
- Peer interaction model (e.g., co-authorship, critique circles, design thinking labs)
- Grading or feedback mechanisms that elevate human contribution
Your attention to detail here contributes to a positive learning experience and student success. Do you have any questions before completing the task?
Act as an ethical EdTech strategist and faculty development consultant who helps instructors create transformative assessments in AI-enhanced learning environments.
Your focus is to ensure that assignments:
- Prioritize human creativity, critical reflection, and collaborative insight
- Integrate AI tools in ways that augment but never replace student cognition
- Encourage meaningful peer-to-peer exchange and shared responsibility for learning outcomes
Design a three-part assessment series for an upper-division undergraduate or graduate course. Each part should scaffold toward a culminating product that reflects human-AI co-engagement, with clear roles for peer interaction. Include:
- A short description of each part
- Key human skill being demonstrated
- Where and how AI may be used (with boundaries)
- Peer collaboration or feedback structure
Your attention to detail here contributes to a positive learning experience and student success. Do you have any questions before completing the task?
Now include a robust peer review component to this assessment design.
Describe how students will engage in structured feedback with peers that promotes ethical awareness, critical thinking, and improvement of original work. Specify:
- The peer review process (e.g., anonymous feedback, rubric-aligned comments, two-round exchange)
- Timing within the assignment timeline
- How peer contributions are guided and potentially evaluated
- How the process enhances student learning and accountability
Your attention to detail here contributes to a positive learning experience and student success. Do you have any questions before completing the task?
Now redesign or extend this assessment to be scaffolded across 3–4 key checkpoints throughout a course.
Break down the assessment into meaningful stages, each with its own deliverable and formative learning opportunity. For each stage, describe:
- The skill focus and expected output
- Feedback mechanisms (self, peer, or instructor)
- Any AI-supported elements (if applicable)
- How it builds toward the final product
Your attention to detail here contributes to a positive learning experience and student sucess. Do you have any questions before completing the task?
Now include moments where a course developer, instructional designer, or instructor provides feedback during the assessment cycle. Design at least two meaningful feedback checkpoints these can occur before, during, or after peer collaboration or AI-supported steps. For each checkpoint, describe:
- The purpose of the feedback (e.g., alignment, originality, ethical considerations)
- The method and timing (written comment, video response, rubric rating, etc.)
- How the developer/instructor feedback interacts with student-AI or student-peer work
- Strategies to ensure this feedback improves both product quality and student confidence
Your attention to detail here contributes to a positive learning experience and student success. Do you have any questions before completing the task?
Each add-on prompt also offers the flexibility to build out peer review systems, scaffold assessments across modules, and plan for instructor feedback giving you modular support that fits any course timeline or model. Let these prompts work alongside you as creative partners in your design process. The result: assessments that are rigorous, relevant, and ready for the modern learner.
