As always, your syllabus must specify how you plan to evaluate the performance of students. Faculty members are free to develop their own methods of evaluating the performance of students in their courses, but they are required by University policy to provide students on the first day a class meets with a written syllabus containing information about the methods of evaluation to be used in the class. As a reminder, please do not deviate from your announced method of evaluation. Nothing is more certain to arouse the ire of students than a mid- or late-course announcement that you have decided to alter the way you will grade the course.
We are required to use both formative and summative assessment methods in our curriculum (but not in every course) to measure and improve student learning and provide feedback to students. Formative assessments are interim measurements that provide feedback to improve student learning; summative assessments are measurements at the end of the course or unit that appraise the degree of learning. We encourage you to use both types of assessments, but that is not required. Please note — formative assessments do not need to be graded or time-consuming for faculty in order to promote student learning.