Published on: 23/06/2026 · Last updated on: 20/07/2026
Introduction
In this case study Simona Montagnana from our Economics Department outlines an assessment she created to encourage students to reflect on the process they use to solve problems in Economics. In this multi-stage assessment, she asked the students to solve an economic problem – for which they could use GenAI – and then asked them to further reflect on their answer by later submitting a video reflection. The goal was to encourage students to demonstrate their reasoning, explain the economic implications of their numerical results, and connect their answer to the topics studied in the unit. If they used GenAI to produce their initial answer, the video reflection provides an opportunity to reflect on whether it had provided the correct answer, and to discuss what the optimal methods might have been for producing their answer.
Stage 1: Solving a problem – Open book exam
The first stage of this assessment was a time constrained open book exam: once started, students had one hour to complete and upload their answer. In the exam students are asked to analyse an economic problem which has a strong mathematical component. They also need to provide an economic explanation of this. They are reminded that providing only the intermediate steps and final result is insufficient to pass the exam: they must show their working, explain the steps in their reasoning, and make appropriate use of the concepts, models, and theories covered in the unit.
Stage 2: Reflective part – Video Presentation
After submitting the problem set (written part), students had up to one week to submit the second stage of the assessment in the form of a video presentation. This second stage required students to reflect on what they produced in Stage 1. Specifically, students were asked to provide:
- A 5-10 minute video presentation;
- Accompanying new notes/slides, or their previous written submission of Stage 1;
- A declaration confirming that the submission was their own work and indicating any use of GenAI;
- The GenAI chat log, where GenAI had been used as an assistive tool.
Students were also instructed to switch their camera on and record themselves while presenting. In the presentation students were required to:
- Reflect on the solution they submitted in Stage 1;
- Justify their reasoning, explaining the choices they made in their answer;
- Identify any mistakes, limitations, or areas where their answer could have been improved;
- Correct or expand their answer where appropriate;
- Explain in more detail how the theories studied in the unit connected to the problem.
This stage was intended to assess students’ ability to engage critically with their own work, explain their reasoning clearly, and demonstrate a deep understanding of the relevant economic concepts and theories.
The role of GenAI in the assessment
This assessment places emphasis on the learning journey, rather than only on the final numerical solution or outcome of a problem. It enables students to show their reasoning process; their application of theories and concepts covered in the unit; their interpretation of numerical results, and their ability to recognise and learn from possible mistakes. It also encourages students to engage critically with any GenAI-generated output, rather than simply accepting potentially inaccurate or hallucinated responses. Stage 1 and 2 are marked as one piece of work, which enables students to be rewarded when they correct mistakes from Stage 1 in Stage 2. The final result and the students’ economic intuition remain important, but the structure of the assessment also demonstrates value for the learning process along the way.