Cadmus (Group work and individual written coursework proof of concept)

Overview

Imperial College London is running a one-year Proof of Concept (PoC) to evaluate two products: Cadmus Group Work, for group assessment, and Cadmus Assignments, for individual written coursework.

The pilot will run throughout Academic Year 2026/27, beginning on 28 September 2026, and involves a limited number of participating modules across several departments.

The pilot tests how well Cadmus fits Imperial’s needs for coursework and group assessment. Rather than focusing solely on the final submission, Cadmus supports students throughout the writing and collaboration process and makes that process visible to staff.

What is Cadmus?

Cadmus is a browser-based digital assessment platform that allows students to:

• Create, edit, and submit work in a single online environment.
• Collaborate on group assignments.
• Receive structured support throughout the writing process.
• Build evidence of their contribution and authorship as work develops.

For teaching staff, Cadmus provides:

• Visibility of student and group progress throughout an assignment.
• Insights into engagement and contribution levels.
• Support for authentic assessment practices.
• Integration with existing institutional systems, including Canvas and Turnitin.

Cadmus records how each piece of work is written, such as what was typed when and what was pasted, so that staff can see how it developed. It is not an AI detector.

Cadmus Group Work

As part of this PoC, students participating in selected modules will complete their group-work contributions directly within the Cadmus Group Work composition space.

Cadmus Group Work is designed to:

• Encourage authentic collaboration.
• Support effective group working practices.
• Make each member’s contribution visible, through shared task boards and peer evaluation.
• Help staff spot problems within a group early, before they escalate.
• Support fairness and transparency in group assessments.

Students should complete all required group-work contributions within Cadmus unless instructed otherwise by their teaching team.

Cadmus for individual coursework

As part of this PoC, students participating in selected modules will complete individual written assignments directly within the Cadmus composition space.

Cadmus is designed to:

• Scaffold the writing process, with instructions, resources and marking criteria alongside the work.
• Provide evidence of the writing process.
• Help staff see each student’s progress and support those who fall behind.

Full instructions will be provided by the teaching team.

Who is taking part?

The PoC includes up to eight modules across several departments.

Participating modules have been selected because they include:

• Significant written coursework, such as:
  • Essays
  • Literature reviews
  • Case studies
  • Reflective writing
  • Group reports

and/or

• Significant collaborative or group-work activities.

Participation is limited to the agreed modules and their enrolled students and teaching teams.

Accessing Cadmus

Cadmus is accessed through Canvas.

Students

Students enrolled on a participating module can:

• Access Cadmus through links provided within their Canvas module.
• View and complete learning and assessment activities associated with that module.
• Participate in Cadmus Group Work activities where required.

Teaching Staff

Staff recorded in Canvas as a teacher on a participating module can:

• Access Cadmus through Canvas.
• Create and manage learning activities.
• Monitor student engagement and progress.
• Review contribution information for group work.

Why is Imperial running this pilot?

The increasing use of generative AI tools is changing how students approach written assessment, and has weakened confidence that take-home work reflects a student’s own understanding. Group work raises a separate problem: participation is often uneven, staff see little of a group’s process until conflict arises, and students doubt that their individual contributions will be fairly credited.

The pilot tests whether Cadmus supports four aims:

• Learning assurance through process: scaffolding how students produce their work, and making that process visible.
• Clear expectations: students know what each assessment expects of them, including what use of AI is permitted.
• Fair, visible group work: more even participation, earlier sight of problems, and fair credit for individual contributions.
• Best practice as the default: good assessment design that can be shared and reused across modules.

The pilot will identify which of Imperial’s needs Cadmus meets and which it does not. Its findings will inform any future decision, which would be made against alternatives.