The Rise of In-Class Writing Assessments in the Wake of AI

Writer: Julia Gillis
Editor: Sabrina Khan

In the wake of AI, many teachers have chosen to replace take-home writing assessments with in-class ones. For example, having work periods to write essays on Digiexam in English, or having more tests where you have one work period to gather all your thoughts in French and History, rather than a take-home assessment. We know why teachers do it: to preserve authentic writing, when it is all too easy to simply put something into ChatGPT. But what are the students' thoughts?  Do they believe that in-class assessments are a way to preserve authenticity and get their best work product, or is it a hindrance to their progress?

At the beginning of my investigation, I thought I would just learn whether students preferred in-class or take-home assessments, but I quickly realized that there is a significant difference in student preferences regarding writing their assessments on paper versus DigiExam.

For example, Marlowe Andrew in Grade 11, said that although she would much prefer a take-home assignment, she would be more receptive to an in-class assignment if it was on DigiExam than on paper, and even more so if spellcheck was on. Although there is ample research on how handwriting boosts memory, supports deeper thinking, and improves long-term understanding, in an assessment where students are already stressed, it can be frustrating to have your hand cramping while frantically erasing something you can’t remember how to spell for the life of you. For this reason, almost all of the students I spoke to preferred DigiExam to writing on paper. Although they didn’t mind taking notes on paper, during an assessment, it impeded them from getting their ideas out clearly on the page in such a limited time.

Further, I was shocked to learn that most students still preferred take-home essays to writing them in class. (I wonder if it’s because at home they can use Chat? Just kidding!) Many students said that at home, they had much more time to formulate their ideas and edit their work, ensuring they put forth their best final product. Additionally, they said that they often left class assessments stressed and uncertain about the work they produced. So in the end, although what they produced was original, it wasn’t necessarily their authentic best work.

To offer an alternative perspective, I personally quite enjoy in-class assessments. For a take-home essay, the saying that the work fills the time is very relevant. I will end up spending a week taking notes and creating an outline, hours editing, and never being satisfied with the finished product. Even worse, I will reread the essay days after I submit it, catch all the mistakes I made, and catastrophize over the grade I will receive for the subpar work I spent ages on.

In contrast, during class assessments, I most often have the opportunity to prepare in advance, so I can collect my thoughts and not just make it up on the spot. Once I get there, I can just share those thoughts, leave, and be done with it. Over-editing and over-analyzing for perfection usually distort my authentic voice and make me sound robotic. The only thing I might like is an online thesaurus, as I have already used that 10 times while writing this, but every choice has its trade-offs, I guess.

All in all, it is clear that in-class assessments are here to stay, but if more of them moved onto DigiExam, students might not dread them quite as much. And who knows, maybe their work would even improve.