Analyzing the legal risks of digital assessment in blended learning

Abstract

The active integration of digital technologies into the educational process, particularly in the context of blended learning, has led to the transformation of traditional approaches to assessing higher education students. With the introduction of automated testing systems, digital platforms, and tools for remote knowledge control by educational institutions, several legal problems arise that require detailed analysis and regulatory and legal regulation. The relevance of the study lies in the fact that current legislation often does not keep up with the pace of technological change, failing to provide clear standards of legitimacy, transparency, and security of digital assessment procedures. It creates legal uncertainty for educational institutions, teachers, and higher education students, especially in matters of liability, data protection, and academic integrity. The purpose of the article is to identify and systematize the main legal risks associated with digital assessment in a blended educational environment, and to analyze the challenges faced by legal and educational practice in ensuring the legal and fair assessment of learning outcomes. Methods. The following methods were used in the study: analysis of scientific literature - to assess the current state of research on the study's issues; generalization and systematization - to present the research results. Results. It is shown that the most significant legal risks in the field of digital assessment are associated with insufficient regulation of personal data protection, uncertainty of the legal status of automated assessment tools and the lack of clearly defined procedures for resolving disputes regarding assessment results. It is established that the use of artificial intelligence in automated assessment, as well as remote testing technologies, can potentially violate the rights of higher education applicants if appropriate legal guarantees and mechanisms for informed consent do not accompany the process. Conclusions. An analysis of Ukrainian legislation shows that although general norms apply in the field of education and information protection, they do not provide a comprehensive legal framework for the use of digital assessment tools. At the same time, there is a need to harmonize institutional norms with international standards, especially in terms of academic integrity and the legitimacy of results recorded in electronic form. Based on a comparison with European practices, it is concluded that the effectiveness of legal regulation depends not only on formal norms but also on their adaptability to specific educational scenarios and technological conditions.