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Anthology to Debut AI-Powered Assessment Tool for Blackboard Learn Ultra

  • By Kate Lucariello
  • 10/31/23

Anthology plans to expand its AI Design Assistant suite of learning tools in Blackboard Learn Ultra to include an AI-powered authentic assessment generator to make it easier for educators to determine student learning mastery, the company said. The new tool will be released in December 2023.

Based on Blackboard Learn Ultra's test question creator being its most used feature, Anthology said the new tool, aligned to learning objectives and Bloom's Taxonomy, will develop prompts that promote critical thinking skills such as analysis, creation, and evaluation. These prompts make it possible for students to demonstrate deeper mastery of such skills and "can require learners to work together with peers and take the shape of real-world tasks," the company said, thus simulating "the context of challenges to be faced in a learner's future workplace."

"Developing deeper forms of assessment that demonstrate a learner's understanding isn't new but are time intensive and are taking on a new urgency as AI challenges the current landscape of academic integrity," said JD White, Anthology's chief product officer. "By inspiring instructors to develop authentic assessments more seamlessly, we are charting a way forward where instructors can effectively and efficiently evaluate learners."

The new feature has been announced less than two months after Anthology released AI Design Assistant for Blackboard Learn Ultra. The company said the new tool will also follow its overall Trustworthy AI Approach "to ensure that clients and instructors stay in control and that their data stays safe."

Visit Anthology's "What's New in Blackboard Learn Ultra – October 2023" blog page to learn about other enhancements to the program.

About the Author

Kate Lucariello is a former newspaper editor, EAST Lab high school teacher and college English teacher.

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