Improving Integrity in Cyber Education with Interactive Oral Assessments

Cyber Security Education | 4 Apr 2024

This article addresses how artificial intelligence is disrupting traditional educational assessment methods, particularly in cyber security and higher education contexts.

The Problem with Current Assessment

According to Justus and Jano’s perspective, conventional evaluation methods no longer function reliably. They argue that “data we are currently collecting through traditional assessments are now worthless” when distinguishing between student work and AI-generated content across writing, technical outputs, and coding projects.

Proposed Solutions

Two major recommendations emerge:

  1. Leadership Response: Accreditation bodies—both regional and discipline-specific—must adapt frameworks to address AI integration

  2. Strategic Pause: A one-year assessment moratorium allowing educators to redesign evaluation approaches for an AI-integrated environment

Interactive Oral Assessments as an Alternative

The article highlights interactive oral assessments as a viable solution. This approach draws on work by A/Prof Popi Sotiriadou and implementation experiences from Dr. Pranit Anand, Matt O’Kane, Emina Abroon, Amita Krautloher, and Marcelle Droulers with Masters-level cyber security students.

Student feedback reportedly indicated positive responses to this assessment method.

Resources

The article references a guide on oral assessment methodology available through UNSW’s Teaching Staff Gateway.