Making Learning Visible in the Age of AI

How can educators determine what students genuinely understand when AI can help produce polished work?

Alex Evangelista’s consultation and training services help educators place learning—not detection—at the center of educational design.

Drawing on his work in education and the Practical Guide From Papers to Performance: Assessing Real Learning in the Age of AI, Alex focuses on practical ways to design assignments and learning activities that provide clearer evidence of students’ reasoning, application, and development. The goal is not to make every task impossible for AI to complete, but to create meaningful opportunities for students to demonstrate what they know and can do.

A Practical Focus: From Finished Products to Demonstrated Understanding

Papers, presentations, and projects can remain valuable forms of assessment. The key question is what additional evidence can connect the finished work to the learner. A focused explanation, application task, or selected process checkpoint can reveal reasoning and decisions that a final product alone may not show.

Alex’s framework uses five adaptable design moves: contextualize the task, apply knowledge, create something meaningful, explain and defend important choices, and show selected process and reflection. Educators can choose the elements that best fit their learning goals; every assignment does not need to include all five.

Consultation Services

Consultation can begin with one assignment, course activity, or educational concern. Areas of support include:

·     Reviewing assignments for alignment between learning goals and evidence of understanding.

·     Developing clear, task-specific expectations for permitted AI assistance and disclosure.

·     Refining rubrics, reasoning prompts, and selected process checkpoints.

·     Considering accessibility, student privacy, and educator workload.

·     Planning a manageable pilot and reviewing its implementation.

The emphasis is on practical, manageable changes that fit the discipline and teaching context rather than requiring an immediate redesign of an entire course.

Training and Professional Learning

Training can be delivered through introductory presentations, interactive assignment-redesign workshops, small group sessions, and follow-up consultation. Topics can be tailored and combined around participants’ needs, including:

·     Making learning visible through meaningful assessment.

·     Using AI to support, not replace student thinking.

·     Helping students evaluate AI output, verify information, and explain their decisions.

·     Supporting academic integrity through clear expectations and fair educational practices.

·     Connecting demonstrated learning to practical, college, and career capabilities.

Example workshop outcome: Participants bring one existing assignment and leave with a revised version that includes clearer AI-use expectations, appropriate evidence of understanding, and a realistic implementation plan.

Who May Benefit

Services are designed for college faculty, secondary educators, instructional designers, academic leaders, advisors, and student-support professionals. Student-facing sessions can also be developed to strengthen responsible AI use, critical thinking, verification skills, and independent learning.

A Research-Informed, Adaptable Approach

The approach is research-informed and tailored to the goals, audience, and context of each school, college, department, or organization. An initial conversation can help determine whether a focused consultation, single workshop, or short professional-learning series is the best fit.