1. Focus & Structure

The session tackles a problem every instructor is feeling: when AI can produce the essay, the essay stops telling you what a student actually knows.

The focus is redesigning assessment to measure student thinking and judgment rather than the finished artifact. It runs as a 90-minute applied workshop — roughly 30 minutes framing why AI breaks traditional assessment and what's still worth measuring (tied to engagement and retention), 45 minutes of hands-on redesign where attendees take one of their own existing assignments and rebuild it into an AI-ready version using a provided framework, with a live demo in Packback Labs (join-code activity) showing it working on real student-thinking data, and 15 minutes of share-out. The framework stands on its own whether or not you use Packback and is free to use.

2. Key Takeaways (what they'll be able to do)

• Diagnose which of their current assignments are now "AI-solvable" and at risk
• Apply a repeatable framework to redesign an assignment so it measures reasoning and judgment, not output
• Walk out with one redesigned assignment and an AI-ready assignment-design datasheet
• Optionally pilot the redesign in Packback Labs via early access

3. Target Audience

Faculty redesigning courses for an AI world, and — given that ~42% of COLTT attendees are staff — instructional designers, ed-tech, and CTL staff who roll practices out across many faculty. Also valuable to academic leaders weighing integrity, engagement, and retention. Designed to work for both 2- and 4-year institutions.

4. Prerequisites

None beyond having used generative AI at least once. Bring a laptop and one existing assignment (topic to build around) you'd like to redesign.