From PISA to the Classroom: Rethinking Assessment Evidence in the Age of AI

AERC Director Prof Therese N. Hopfenbeck as Keynote Speaker at EARLI SIG 1 Conference 2026

AERC Director, Professor Therese N. Hopfenbeck, will deliver a keynote address titled “From PISA to the Classroom: Rethinking Assessment Evidence in the Age of AI” at the EARLI SIG 1 Conference 2026 in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The conference is organised under the umbrella of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI), an international scientific association for junior and senior researchers in education.

Under the theme “Opening up assessment and evaluation to new possibilities,” the EARLI SIG 1 Conference 2026 invites researchers and educators to explore how assessment and evaluation can move beyond traditional boundaries.

In this keynote, Professor Hopfenbeck examines how large-scale assessment data and classroom-based evidence can be combined to better understand student learning in the age of AI. Drawing on research across Oslo, Oxford, and Melbourne, she highlights the strengths of international large-scale assessments in revealing equity and learning patterns, while also pointing to their limitations in capturing emerging constructs such as AI literacy and self-regulated learning. She argues for closer collaboration between large-scale assessment research and co-designed classroom studies with teachers and students, especially as new developments in PISA place increasing emphasis on media and AI literacy.

Find out more about SIG 1 Assessment and Evaluation @ EARLI (European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction): https://www.earli.org/sig-01-conference-utrecht-2026