Beyond the AI Proctor: Scaling Oral Assessment Through Peer Learning

Oral exams are having a moment. From Cornell's no-laptop "oral defense" assignments to NYU Stern's AI voice-agent exams, instructors across higher ed are rediscovering a simple truth: it's a lot harder to fake understanding in a live conversation than in a polished essay. But there's a catch. Oral assessment has always worked, it just never scaled.

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One professor can't sit down with 300 students, which is exactly why institutions are now racing to build AI proctors and voice agents to fill the gap. It's a real solution, but it raises a real question: are we redesigning assessment around genuine understanding, or just automating a new kind of surveillance? This webinar makes the case for a third path.

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Join Kritik as we explore how peer-led verbal defense, students justifying, defending, and critiquing each other's reasoning in real time, can deliver the same AI-resilience as oral exams, without requiring a faculty member (or an AI) in every room.

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‍In this session, we'll cover:

• Why oral and process-based assessment is outperforming written work on validity and reliability, and what's driving the shift
• The workload wall that's pushed institutions toward AI-graded oral exams and the trade-offs worth knowing before you adopt one
• How to layer a peer-led verbal defense round onto an assignment you're already using
• A practical redesign template you can apply to one course this term

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Who should attend: Instructors, instructional designers, and academic leaders looking for assessment methods that hold up against AI without adding hours to their grading load.

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Register now to reserve your spot.

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