Grading, Late Work, and AI in an Online Stats Class: What I am trying.

With another academic year comes another set of questions I have to answer; What assignments do I want students to complete? How? When? Why? What if they use AI? How can I structure my courses to reduce the likelihood of students turning to AI? In this post I'll share three decisions I've come to for the online statistics course I am teaching this fall; what and how I am grading, what are my late policies, and what are the consequences of unauthorized AI use?

How and What I am Grading

Below is what I have written in my syllabus for what I'll be grading. Much of this is informed by Grading for Equity by Joe Feldman, and Uncommon Sense Teaching by Oakley, Rogowsky, and Sejnowski. 

Grade Composition

Grades are generated from assignments and assessments that have students apply course information, in order to develop their understanding of statistics. Parentheses () include the percentage of the total course grade this component makes up. 

This preamble seemed important to me to clarify that the goal is to have students apply statistics. I don't want or need AI to answer any question. 

Note-Taking Assignments (17%) – To start the learning process students are asked to take handwritten notes on the textbook before class, as this has demonstrated greater learning gains than typed notes.[1] Students may elect to take handwritten notes on paper or on a digital device, however no screenshots and/or copying and pasting of text is allowed. You’ll be asked to try different note taking methods, answer questions, and find ways of taking notes that work best for you. Grading will be done according to a rubric that is focused on taking good notes, not being perfect or correct.  Due Tuesdays and Thursdays by 12:00 PM (noon).

To get students thinking about the course material I have them take handwritten notes from the textbook. Is this antiquated, old-fashioned, and time consuming? Yes, and that's the point. Learning is slow, reading takes time, and the pace of both compliment each other. 

Discussion Forums (17%) - To continue the learning process, students will engage with the course material in a collaborative setting. A variety of discussion forums will be presented throughout the term, and students will be expected to discuss the course topics with other students and the instructor. Grading will be done according to a rubric that is focused on collaborating and learning with your colleagues, not being perfect or correct. Initial and response posts due alternating Wednesdays by 10:00 PM.

I'm a little unsure what I want these discussion forums to look like. I would like at least one asking students to find statistics in an article or video they find interesting, and then have students ask questions in replies.  

Homework (17%) – To practice applying course concepts, and recall of course ideas, students will complete homework assignments on WAMAP. Grading is done on correctness of answers and solutions. Due Mondays by 10:00 PM.

Starting with a homework set in WAMAP from a colleague (Thanks Allie!) I've aligned them to the learning outcomes from the textbook that I am assessing. I do have a running list of questions I need to write and add, but that is something I can juggle later on.  

Quizzes (10%) - You will have five open-book, open-note quizzes throughout the course. Some questions will ask you to write and submit your work.  These may be taken twice and the highest score is recorded. Grading is done on correctness of answers and solutions. Due every other Friday by 10:00 PM. 

Professor Tip: It will be important to keep current with the course material to do well on quizzes. If you don’t do well on a quiz take this as a signal that you should change something about your approach to the course.

The major assessment of the course is project based (more below) and I'd like students to answer a few questions to apply what they have learned. I am using this format from a colleague (Thanks Kate!).  

Excel Skills/Applications (15%) - This section (version) of MATH&146 is intended to help Business Administration, Accounting, and other business students develop their skills with Excel. This set of ten (10) Excel assignments were developed in collaboration with business faculty, and will have students answer statistics questions with Excel. The assignments consist of an Excel Skills assignment that has students use and explore various functions within Excel, and then Excel Applications, having students use Excel formulas and features to answer statistics questions. Due weekly on Fridays by 10:00 PM.

I really like these assignments, and have yet to run them through AI... 

☆ Course Project (24%) - To make course concepts and principles relevant students will pose a question, and spend the term answering it using statistics. There are five parts to the course project, with each part building on the last. 

• Course Project Part 1 (2%) - Explore the Data & Variables
• Course Project Part 2 (3%) - Statistics & Graphs
• Course Project Part 3 (4%) - Relationships Between Variables
• Course Project Part 4 (5%) - Confidence Intervals
• Course Project Part 5 (5%) - Peer Review with Video Presentation
• Course Project (5%) - Culminating Project with Video Presentation

Students will be sent a single Google Doc to write their submissions. Only that file will be accepted for grading. It is expected that students will add onto their project parts for each submission. At the end of the term students will have a completed article describing a research question, detailing their attempts at completing it, and summarizing their statistics and conclusions. 

Thanks to Jennifer Ward, Allie Dykes, and Kate Cook for sharing this project and their iterations. I will be creating a single Google doc using my own account for students to write their submissions. Revision history will be used if I suspect AI use. 

Recommended Questions – Within each of the Weekly Overview pages on Canvas, there will be a set of recommended questions for each Learning Objective.

Professor Tip: Practice makes progress. While the above assignments do not calculate into your course grade, they will be graded to provide feedback as to your understanding of the course material, and progress towards learning mathematical notation and formatting. Failure to complete them will negatively impact your ability to participate in class activities and complete assessments.

This is something I'll create on a weekly basis in order for students to get additional practice.  

Late Work Policies

I've spent a lot of time thinking about late work policies and how to be equitable. After conversations with colleagues (Thanks Hannah and Michelle!) I am instituting a few hard due dates for discussion forums and quizzes. In both cases they will be open for quite a bit of time, and students can reattempt Quizzes. 

Late Work Policies

• If students do not complete an assignment by its due date, it is LATE. For all LATE assignments, a zero (0) will be entered into the gradebook. This is to ensure that students understand their current grade, and can take informed steps to improve.

One thing I see many instructors get in trouble with in Canvas is not entering zero grades after a due date. Canvas can only record a student's grade based on what is entered, so if you only enter a 100% on that intro assignment from Week 1 a student will (wrongfully) think they have a 100% in the course in Week 10.  

• Students will have until Wednesday, December 10th at 10:00 PM to complete LATE Note-Taking Assignments and Homework. Note that it is in your best interest to complete assignments on time, as other course components will rely on knowing this information. Any submission after this date will be marked zero (0).
  Professor Tip: The previous two points might seem to contain contradictory messages (allowing  and “complete assignments on time”) but I do not see them that way. I want to provide students guidance as to when to complete assignments, and I want to give you some flexibility IF you need it. Using this late work policy 2-3 times during a term is fine. Using this late work policy once a week or more is a signal that something you are doing needs to change.

This is what I have used in the past and am wondering if drawing attention to this fact helps or hurts students. I want to provide flexibility, and many students need firm deadlines... To be honest I don't feel like I should be responsible to 'motivate' students to complete assignments through deadlines, but here we are. 

• Students may not complete LATE Discussion Forums, given that the learning activity is meant to be completed in collaboration with other students with their current level of understanding. Any submission after the due date will be marked zero (0).

Because discussion forums are asynchronous with a day limit, I feel confident in setting this deadline. The purpose isn't the post, it is the conversation with colleagues, the sorting out of ideas by discussing them is the goal. 

• Students may not complete LATE Quizzes, given that they will have a week to complete it and will have two attempts. Any submission after the due date will be marked zero (0).

We'll see how this goes.  

• Students may have an additional two (2) days (as in 48 hours) for LATE Excel Skills and Application assignments. Any submission after this date will be marked zero (0).
• Students may have an additional two (2) days (as in 48 hours) for LATE Course Projects. Any submission after this date will be marked zero (0).

I've built this into my grading so I don't mind if students are a day or two late.  

• All submissions must be complete by Wednesday, December 10th at 10:00 PM.

All prior due dates will be by Monday, December 8th at 10:00 PM, so students can have a the extra two days for the project and homework.  

AI Policy

None of this is revolutionary, and no, I don't want or need students to use AI in our course. I will be giving some ideas of what they could use AI for (writing practice questions, taking apart learning objectives, etc.) to provide some level of guidance. 

Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen A.I.) Policy

I expect that all work students submit for this course will be their own. The use of ChatGPT, Google Bard, or any other generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools at all stages of the work process, including preliminary ones such as creating drafts, generating ideas, etc., are not allowed. Violations of this policy will be considered academic dishonesty. Note that different classes at Clark could implement different AI policies, and it is your responsibility to understand the expectations for each course. 

To be clear this means using generative A.I. for assignments is not allowed, and there are other aspects of learning and studying a student could use these tools for. To help guide students towards useful and acceptable uses of this technology, each Weekly Overview will contain a recommended activity students could use this technology for, in addition to other information.  

Writing a syllabus feels like writing a check that you need to cash by following through and making all of these assignments, rubrics, assessments, and then grading them all. I will try to reflect on these policies in December, after the term ends, as I am trimming the Christmas tree.