Prerequisite Knowledge Mapping

Overview:

Tool: TerpAI or NotebookLM* 

Time: 15–20 min  

What you need: your syllabus and the description or prompt for your first major assignment

How to do it:

1. Choose a tool that you want to use:
   1. Open TerpAI and sign in with your UMD Google account, OR
   2. Open NotebookLM and sign in with your UMD Google account.
2. Paste (TerpAI) or upload (NotebookLM) both your syllabus and your assignment description as separate sources.
3. Paste the prompt provided below into your chosen tool. If the response is long, ask it to focus on one category at a time: "Tell me only about what I have assumed, not what I have explicitly taught."

"Here is my syllabus and my first major assignment. List all the prior knowledge and skills a student needs to successfully complete this assignment. Then tell me which of those prerequisites I have explicitly taught, which I have assumed, and which fall in between."

Notes:  

These tools only work from your uploaded documents. It cannot account for actual student preparation levels or prior coursework.

To understand where students in your course are actually arriving from, (what courses they have completed, what grades they earned), connect with our Educational Effectiveness team.

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