Ai and Trust: Teaching and Assessment Summit 9th June 2026

Posted on by Julia CARRADUS

Image of AI Summit

Ai and Trust: Teaching and Assessment Summit 9th June 2026

So on the 9th June, Isobelle Clarke (Linguistics and English Language) and I (Marketing) hosted the first ever AI Summit at Lancaster University, funded by DSAIL.Psychology, Computing and CETAD.

It was a truly rare interdisciplinary event, bringing together 40 colleagues from departments and faculties from across the university for a much-needed discussion about navigating Generative AI in teaching, learning and assessment. We were delighted to see staff from Accounting, English, ISS, Mathematics, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Strategy, Management, OWT, Media Studies,

6 provocative presentations were made, accompanied by 2 panels.

Talks included:

1. My Ai Journey and University Policies

2. Large Language Models: How they really work, and why it matters

3. AI as a simulation tool in management teaching

4. How AI is impacting integrity and pedagogy

5. How students want to use Ai in assessments: students voting for ai use

6. Safe Ai use at Lancaster

Lee Francis and Isobelle Clarke

My Ai Journey and University Policies

In this hostile HE climate, we must redesign assessment around verifiable human capability or risk losing trust in our offering. Employability is also being reshaped; therefore, our students must be taught foundational human skills with AI literacy. There is also no shared approach across universities with often vague or difficult to enforce policies. Police and punish is unsustainable, more practical guidance for staff and students is needed.

Andrew Hardie, Reader in Linguistics

Large Language Models: How they really work, and why it matters

Generative AI is not intelligent in any human sense. It is a statistical system that generates likely sequences of words based on patterns in data, not understanding, reasoning, or truth. Students and staff must understand its limitations if we are to co create impactful learning.

Ziad Elsahn, Senior Lecturer in Strategy

AI as a simulation tool in management teaching

AI can be a powerful pedagogical tool when used through simulations that teach students: to work with AI, to think independently of AI, and to critically evaluate AI. This is vital to develop balanced human–AI judgement, not dependency.

Anna Galindo, Senior Teaching Fellow in Marketing

How AI is impacting integrity and pedagogy

AI has already transformed higher education, but institutions are reacting inconsistently and often inadequately, creating risks for academic integrity and the learning process. The danger is students no longer engaging deeply with ideas.

Elisavet Christou, Lecturer in Management and Organisation Studies

How students want to use Ai in assessments: students voting for ai use

Students should not just be regulated, they should be active participants in shaping how AI is used in assessment, fostering agency, trust, and deeper learning.

Brian Green, Head of Innovation and Mobile Development ISS with Casey Cross, University Associate Academic Dean for Students

Safe Ai use at Lancaster

SAIL is Lancaster University’s institutional AI platform, designed to provide: Safe, Governed, Equitable access to generative AI tools for all students at Lancaster. (At time of writing, SAIL is in proof of value phase).

But the decks and speakers were only part of the puzzle, the added value really came from the discussions and panels, sharing hard earnt knowledge and stories in person.

Our thoughtful panellists included:

Simone Corsi, Stephen Manders, Kirsty Dunn, Beatriz Rodriguez Garcia, Elisavet Christou, Huw Fearnall-Williams, Richard Baguley.

Collectively their discussions shed light on the reality of teaching ai to students, concerns of students (e.g. sustainability), the administrative and emotional challenges of integrity officers policing an ever-increasing number of submissions, the still heavy reliance of departments on essay-based assessments.

During the Summit there was also an anonymous survey. Key insights were:

• Generative AI is used by staff regularly for research, admin and slides, but feelings on its use overall in education remain mixed and often cautious.

• Support and policy are seen as weak and training is wanted for consistency.

• Traditional assessment methods such as the essay need to evolve to better assess learning process, not outputs.

In summary, during the Summit it became clear that AI is forcing universities to confront a deeper question, not how to use technology, but what it means to learn, think, and demonstrate capability in the first place. The universities that succeed will not be those that control AI, but those that redefine learning and assessment design in an AI world.

Many thanks to all our contributors and attendees.

Related Blogs

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed by our bloggers and those providing comments are personal, and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of Lancaster University. Responsibility for the accuracy of any of the information contained within blog posts belongs to the blogger.

Back to blog listing