Grading Policy Coherence Review

Overview

Tool: TerpAI or NotebookLM* 

Time: 15 min

What you need: your syllabus, specifically the section on grading

How to do it:

1. Pull out the grading policies section of your syllabus — this includes your late work policy, participation grading criteria, extra credit, attendance policy, and anything else that affects a student's final grade.

2. Paste this text into TerpAI or upload it to NotebookLM. Ask:

   "Here is my course grading policy, including late work, participation, and extra credit. Are there internal contradictions — places where one policy undermines the stated purpose of another? Are there policies that may inadvertently penalize students based on circumstances outside their control rather than on their learning?"

3. After getting the initial response, ask a follow-up: "Which of these policies most directly penalizes students for circumstances outside their control rather than for their demonstrated learning?"

Notes:

This activity raises questions for reflection; grading policy decisions involve disciplinary norms and departmental contexts that go beyond what this analysis can address.

If this raises interest in alternative grading approaches, TLTC offers programming on specifications grading, contract grading, and ungrading. Connect with a member of the TLTC's Academic Innovation team to explore options.

*We encourage you to exclusively use UMD-approved GenAI tools, which are deployed in alignment with institutional security and compliance requirements.