Title: When answers are cheap: teaching, learning, and assessment with Project Ethelh
Abstract:
AI can now solve many of the problems we set our students. That does not make learning obsolete — but it does challenge us to reconsider what we teach, how we assess it, and where AI belongs in the process. The question is no longer simply what these models can do, but how universities can put their capabilities to educationally meaningful and accountable use. Drawing on empirical studies and practical deployments at ETH Zurich, I introduce Project Ethel, an open-source ecosystem supporting course-specific chatbots, feedback on handwritten work, accessible learning materials, and the scoring of open-ended exams. Recent experience with approximately 2,000 exams across six courses illustrates both the potential and the practical demands of AI-supported assessment: transparent scoring, student vetoes, independent human rescoring, and instructor responsibility for final grades.
Throughout, I draw a clear distinction between using AI to support learning and using it to judge learners. Students need an educational “backstage": a space to ask naïve questions, explore unfinished ideas, and make mistakes without every interaction becoming assessment evidence. The aim is not to replace teachers, isolate students with artificial tutors, or automate their thinking. It is to strengthen research-based teaching, make meaningful feedback and open-ended assessment feasible at scale, and preserve the human relationships and student agency on which learning depends.
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Gerd Kortemeyer is a member of the rectorate of ETH Zurich and an associate of the ETH AI Center. He is also an Associate Professor Emeritus at Michigan State University. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from Michigan State University, where he taught for two decades. His research focusses on technology-enhanced learning of STEM disciplines; currently, he is advancing the research and development of AI-based tools and workflows for teaching, learning, and assessment.
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Organiser
Esa Räsänen