16-Sep-2026
1:00pm-2:00pm

Seminar Room 2, 4/F, 3 Sassoon Road

The traditional exam hall that we all know and love was designed for a world in which knowledge was scarce, access to information could be controlled, and remembering mattered. That world has gone. Generative AI now retrieves, synthesizes, and applies information in seconds, challenging not only how we assess, but what assessment is actually for.

Much of the debate about AI and assessment has focused on cheating, detection, and how we protect our existing assessments from AI. But what if AI is not the problem? What if it is exposing a problem with our assessments?

If AI can undertake the lower levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, should students still have to climb through them? Or should we enable learners to move earlier to critical thinking, judgement, and the distinctly human capabilities required for clinical practice, and focus our assessments there? If we are preparing learners for an AI-enabled workplace, should we not only permit AI in assessment, but also actively encourage its use and assess students’ ability to use it?

This keynote will challenge some of our most established assumptions about assessment in medical education. It will explore what we should assess for in an AI-enabled workplace, whether the traditional exam hall still has a place, and how the role of the educator must evolve. Finally, it will ask an uncomfortable question: if AI can design, deliver, mark, and evaluate assessment, how much of the assessment process still needs us?

All HKU colleagues and honorary teachers are welcome to participate in-person or via Zoom.

 

Prof. Claire Stewart is Dean and Head of the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham, one of the UK’s largest and most research-intensive medical schools. A practising General Practitioner and Professor of Medical Education and Assessment, she is an internationally recognised leader in medical education with over 20 years’ experience in undergraduate and postgraduate training. Her work focuses on assessment, professionalism, curriculum innovation and the development of future healthcare professionals. Claire is a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Educators. She is a Commissioner for Human Medicines, an Education Associate with the General Medical Council, and Chair of the Universitas 21 Medicine Group. Claire has worked extensively with international partners and is delighted to return to Hong Kong as External Examiner for The University of Hong Kong.

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