Tom Cotton & Rosy Borland
Refining assessment with chk.Instructions
Use Val personas to strengthen assessment instructions for clarity and completeness.
How to use the 'chk.instructions' persona in Val to generate a detailed report and suggested rewrite of your existing assessment instructions
Preparing clear Canvas assessment instructions that all students can understand and follow is a challenging task. Even the best instructions can always be strengthened.
Tool | The Beta version uses Val, RMIT's Virtual Assistant for Learning. |
|---|---|
AI Persona | chk.Instructions |
Process | Begin with the “Start” prompt. |
To use, you will need handy:
- The assessment instructions: word doc or a copy/paste from Canvas
- Any rubric: A screen grab, word doc etc.
- Any supporting documents: pdf, word docs or screen grabs
Open the chk.Instructions VAL persona. The first prompt to enter is “Start”.
It will then guide you through a few questions and uploads before producing the analysis and suggested rewrite.
It does not reinvent the assessment or try to be the expert – it just shows where and how existing instructions could be stronger. You decide on the updates that go into Canvas.
Related skills
- Apply human judgement to validate AI outputs — The AI generates suggestions and a rewrite, but the educator must use their professional judgement to decide which changes are appropriate and effective.
- Brainstorm ideas and generate drafts — The tool generates a complete 'suggested rewrite', providing an alternative draft that can help refine the original assessment instructions.
- Locate and manage supported GenAI tools — This activity requires locating and activating a specific, purpose-built persona within an institutionally supported AI platform.
- Refine and iterate prompts — The process involves a guided, multi-turn conversation where you provide specific information to refine the AI's understanding and shape its final output.