Beyond the Browser: Rethinking Online Assessment and Academic Integrity explores how educators can rethink online assessment in an era of rapid technological change, digital learning, and emerging generative AI technologies. Held in parallel with EDCON 2026, this interactive workshop invites educators and education professionals to reflect on how assessment practices can be designed to promote authentic learning, student engagement, academic integrity, and meaningful demonstration of knowledge and skills.

As online and technology-enabled learning continues to evolve, traditional approaches to assessment and academic integrity are increasingly being challenged. Rather than viewing technology solely as a threat to academic integrity, the workshop encourages participants to consider how assessment design itself can support integrity, encourage deeper learning, and create more authentic opportunities for students to demonstrate their capabilities.

The session will introduce key considerations for designing effective and integrity-focused online assessments. Through discussion, reflection, practical examples, and interactive activities, participants will explore questions around authenticity, assessment design, student accountability, and the changing role of technology in higher education. The workshop will encourage educators to move beyond the browser and consider assessment approaches that focus not simply on monitoring what students do online, but on designing learning experiences that make meaningful engagement, critical thinking, and authentic demonstration of learning central to the assessment process.

The workshop will be facilitated by Dr. Saher Ali and Asha Jose bringing together expertise in higher education, anatomy and physiology education, learning and teaching, assessment, academic integrity, and innovative educational practice.

Participants will leave the session with practical ideas for rethinking their own online assessment practices and strategies for supporting academic integrity through thoughtful assessment design. The workshop will encourage educators to look beyond surveillance and traditional notions of academic integrity, and instead consider how authentic, purposeful, and student-centred assessment can foster both integrity and deeper learning in the digital age.