BC TEAL 2026 Annual Conference

As English as an Additional Language (EAL) programs adopt online platforms, assessments often trail in design quality. Simply porting paper tests to screens erodes reliability, validity, and equity. This interactive session introduces a digital mindset—a flexible, learner‑centred, problem‑solving stance that emphasizes intentional tool choice, data‑informed iteration, and practical constraints. Grounded in Social Constructivism, we frame assessment improvement as a socially mediated process in which knowledge is co‑constructed through dialogue, collaboration, and shared reflection. Participants will engage in spectrum positioning, scenario analysis, and group redesign tasks that model constructivist practices and foster collective sense‑making.
We begin with the “Digital Mindset Spectrum” to activate prior knowledge and surface diverse comfort levels. Short, realistic scenarios then highlight common pitfalls of adopting tools for speed rather than pedagogy, moving tests online without rethinking timing or formats, and misaligning external scores with local outcomes. Drawing on The Digital Mindset to clarify what it takes to thrive amid data, algorithms, and AI (Leonardi & Neeley, 2022), and Co‑Intelligence to position AI as a collaborative partner in assessment workflows (Mollick, 2024), we explore practical ways to enhance design while protecting integrity.
A concise framework organizes five essentials for digital placement assessment: reliability, validity, security, accessibility, and practicality. Using common Canadian university pain points, participants diagnose challenges in writing, listening, speaking, and reading placements, then propose possible improvements. Attendees will redesign a placement task for digital delivery to clarify instructions, reduce construct‑irrelevant difficulty, plan for accessibility, and add features such as adaptive logic, automated feedback, and test security.
We conclude with a five‑question decision tool that centres pedagogy, equity, actionable data, instructor workload, and program outcomes.
By the end, participants will:

• Define and apply a digital mindset in assessment design.
• Leverage AI as a co‑intelligent aid while maintaining standards.
• Implement one concrete, constructivist‑informed change to strengthen their assessments.

References
Leonardi, P. M., & Neeley, T. (2022). 

In this session, participants will be provided with a summary of Let’s Talk About GenAI, FASTER conversations.  These were a series of webinars, hosted on tutela.ca, that provided the opportunity for adult language and settlement instructors across Canada to explore implications of generative GenAI tools through the lens of the Government of Canada’s ethical framework FASTER Principles. These involve considering Fair, Accountable, Secure, Transparent, Educated and Relevant principle., Each webinar session offered a safe and shared space to move beyond hype-driven fears toward thoughtful, practical understanding of how GenAI intersects with everyday instructional duties.
Each FASTER workshop began with a short overview of the FASTER Principles and what each concept means in the context of language instruction. A relevant GenAI technical issue was clarified to enrich each conversation. These included how hallucinations happen, GenAI creates content, security can be enhanced with good practices. Participants then engaged in guided small group conversations, where they shared their current experiences, questions and concerns about using GenAI tools in lesson planning, assessment and materials creation. Through peer discussion exchanges, teachers considered issues including security, bias, accountability, safety, ethics and more. 
The focus of the workshops was to build a shared understanding of the responsibilities of educators including ethical, pedagogical and professional considerations.  The facilitators of this session will share reflections and FASTER resources for the participants consideration with the possibility of the materials being repurposed and facilitated in Canadian LINC and ESL centres.