Codesigning Ripplet: an LLM-Assisted Assessment Authoring System Grounded in a Conceptual Model of Teachers' Workflows

TL;DR

This paper presents Ripplet, a web-based tool co-designed with teachers, grounded in a conceptual model of their workflows, which enhances assessment creation, reflection, and quality in education.

Contribution

It introduces a novel conceptual model of teachers' assessment workflows and a co-designed tool, Ripplet, that improves assessment practices and reflection.

Findings

Ripplet enabled teachers to create assessments they previously would not have made.

Teachers shifted from generation to curation in assessment practices.

User study showed perceived improvement in assessment quality and effort-worthiness.

Abstract

Assessments are critical in education, but creating them can be difficult. To address this challenge in a grounded way, we partnered with 13 teachers in a seven-month codesign process. We developed a conceptual model that characterizes the iterative dual process where teachers develop assessments while simultaneously refining requirements. To enact this model in practice, we built Ripplet, a web-based tool with multilevel reusable interactions to support assessment authoring. The extended codesign revealed that Ripplet enabled teachers to create formative assessments they would not have otherwise made, shifted their practices from generation to curation, and helped them reflect more on assessment quality. In a user study with 15 additional teachers, compared to their current practices, teachers felt the results were more worth their effort and that assessment quality improved.