High-Stakes Front-Loading Check

Overview:

Tool: NotebookLM or Gemini* 

Time: 15 min  

What you need: your assignment schedule with point values and due dates

How to do it:

1. Access your syllabus or gradebook. Write out or export a list of all graded items with their point values and due dates.
2. Choose a tool:
   1. Open NotebookLM and sign in with your UMD Google account, OR
   2. Open Gemini and sign in with your UMD Google account,
   3. Upload or paste the list of assignments with weights and dates directly into the chat.
3. Ask the prompt below. When you get the response, ask a follow-up: "If a student earns a D on the first major assessment, can they still pass the course? At what point does that become mathematically impossible?"

"Here is my assignment schedule with point values and due dates. Map the weight of graded work across the semester. Are high-stakes assessments clustered early, before students have had time to calibrate to my expectations? Where does a struggling student lose the ability to recover their grade?"

Notes:  

This is a structural analysis of your course architecture. It does not model actual student behavior or predict outcomes.

For DFW rate analysis, 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.