Making Judgment Visible: Designing Authentic Assessment in the Postplagiarism Era

On February 25, 2026, the Postplagiarism Speaker Series welcomed Dr. Sunaina Sharma (Brock University), who presented Designing Authentic Assessment in the Postplagiarism GenAI Era: Making Judgment Visible. The session explored how educators can rethink assessment design as generative AI becomes embedded in everyday learning practices.

Positioning postplagiarism as an era defined by technological normalcy rather than disruption, Sharma invited educators to move beyond questions of detection toward questions of pedagogy. Drawing on classroom research and teacher education practice, she introduced the 3Cs framework “Construct, Collaborate, Create” alongside the concept of amplified intelligence, a model emphasizing how ethical engagement with AI can deepen, rather than replace, student thinking. The presentation focused on designing assessments that foreground learner reasoning, professional judgment, and transparency in human–AI collaboration.

A central insight from Sharma’s presentation was the reframing of academic integrity as a design challenge rather than a compliance problem. Rather than asking whether students should use generative AI, Sharma argued that educators must design learning environments where ethical use becomes both visible and meaningful.

Her concept of amplified intelligence was particularly compelling. Rather than viewing AI as either a threat or a shortcut, Sharma described learning as emerging through reflective interaction with technology, where student thinking is extended through dialogue with AI while accountability remains human-centered. Learning, in this model, is not located in polished final products but in the decisions students make about what ideas they accept, reject, revise, and justify.

The presentation highlighted research suggesting that cognitive engagement is strongest when learners begin thinking independently and integrate AI later in the process. This finding reinforces a key pedagogical implication: assessment tasks must position students as thinkers first, with AI functioning as a scaffold rather than a substitute.

The 3Cs framework operationalizes this principle through staged learning experiences. Construct tasks require learners to build understanding and justify interpretations. Collaborate tasks emphasize dialogue and shared reasoning, including critique of AI-generated scenarios. Create tasks that ask learners to redesign or transform outputs, demonstrating professional judgment through revision rather than adoption.

Across examples from teacher education classrooms, AI never functioned as authority; instead, it created opportunities for sense-making and evaluation. By documenting how AI was used and why decisions were made, students made their thinking visible. This shift from product to process reframes academic integrity as honesty in learning rather than avoidance of misconduct, aligning closely with postplagiarism principles.

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Naomi Paisley is a research assistant and doctoral student in education whose work explores academic integrity, postplagiarism, and assessment design in the age of artificial intelligence. Her research focuses on bridging the gap between post secondary institutions support in accounting students understanding of academic integrity and what is expected of them when they enter the workforce.