Locate the unsupported claim, hidden permission, or missing check.
What will you be asked to defend at the midterm?
Your evidence can be plain. The strongest packet makes capability, sources, permissions, verification, revision, and human responsibility inspectable.
PROJECT
Choose one audience, one artifact, and authorized inputs.
Preserve the request, output, check, revision, and final choice.
State what the evidence supports, what it cannot support, and what happens next.
Open this first: the midterm evidence packet. Several screens today ask you to complete a packet page while you work.
Name what the system does before deciding what it may do.
These four terms describe system behavior. None of them grants permission, proves a claim, or transfers responsibility.
The model selects a likely continuation from learned patterns; likely is not the same as true.
The system repeats plan → act → inspect until a stop rule or human decision ends the loop.
The system counts, sorts, cleans, or rearranges input; it does not create missing evidence.
The system creates or edits text, images, audio, or slides; a polished result still needs evidence and permission checks.
Six weeks, one case. Which questions still apply?
Reveal them in order. Each question exposes a different failure; no single label such as “responsible” is specific enough.
DECISION
Model prediction, tool use, agent loop, data transform, or media generation.
Sources, supplied data, tests, visible artifacts, uncertainty, and missing information.
Authorized inputs, allowed tools, privacy, disclosure, ask-first actions, and stop rules.
The student and institution retain approval, verification, submission, and consequences.
One fictional case. Three rounds. One evidence trail.
The case is course-created and contains no real student record. Keep the same case visible as the questions become harder.
Fictional course case: a campus study club wants a one-page study-planning helper based on eight course-created session rows. The rows are synthetic and identify no real student.
No names, grades, disability, conduct, advising, peer, instructor, or private course information.
Round 1: Does “40% better focus” survive the evidence check?
The table has eight synthetic sessions, two missing focus values, and no before/after baseline. Commit before seeing the course rationale.
| Field | S1 | S2 | S3 | S4 | S5 | S6 | S7 | S8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Focus | 3 | 4 | 2 | Missing | 5 | 3 | 2 | Missing |
| Reflect? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Choose one answer; that click is your commitment and reveals its rationale. Compare the rationale with your own reason, then keep or revise your packet note.
Round 2: The agent did something useful. Was it allowed?
The agent proposes: “I can email the six students and publish a success graphic.” The table contains sessions, not people, and the request authorized neither contact nor publication.
Choose one answer; that click is your commitment and reveals its rationale. Compare the rationale with your own reason, then keep or revise your packet note.
Round 3: The graphic is clean. Is the story supported?
The draft graphic says “40% BETTER FOCUS,” uses an unlabeled bar, and looks like evidence from a real campus program. The image is synthetic; no program result was measured.
Choose one answer; that click is your commitment and reveals its rationale. Compare the rationale with your own reason, then keep or revise your packet note.
Three rounds, three different failures. What stayed the same?
Compare the three rounds using the same four-question map. Do not settle for “the AI was wrong.”
Working alone? Write two defensible answers, challenge both with the same evidence rule, then choose one.
Course clarification
Reasonable rankings differ. The important pattern is earlier prevention: authorized inputs and an action contract limit Round 2; a verification rule rejects Round 1; a communication standard and disclosure prevent Round 3. A proposal to contact or publish demonstrates neither authorization nor completed action. The human owner must define, inspect, and approve the controls.
Choose the smallest artifact that can demonstrate one responsible workflow.
All six seeds can become a one-page static concept in Topic 8. No code is required today, and a larger idea earns no automatic advantage.
Working alone? Compare two seeds against the same one-page rule, then choose.
“Build an app.” What would you need before you could review that?
Complete the fields in the packet. Each field should constrain a visible decision in Topic 8.
Leave with three diagnosis notes and one bounded project seed.
This checkpoint is formative. It does not calculate a grade, unlock Topic 8, or require a live AI tool.
Claim revision
Record the rejected 40% claim and one supported replacement.
Permission rule
Record one allowed, ask-first, and prohibited action.
Context decision
Record the chart/media repair and disclosure sentence.
Brief v0.1
Name the seed, input, output, boundary, owner, and Topic 8 question.
Complete the workflow model before extending it.
Work alone for 30 seconds. Then compare. Reveal each sentence only after naming the missing idea.
An AI system…
performs a model, tool, agent, data, or media operation that must be named.
Its answer…
is supported only to the extent that sources, data, tests, and visible artifacts justify it.
Its actions…
stay within authorized inputs, tools, disclosure rules, and human approval boundaries.
The human owner…
still verifies, revises, approves, submits, and accepts the consequences.
Before the agent’s first tool call, what must already be settled?
Write one action in each zone for your project seed. Capability does not decide the zone; purpose, evidence, permission, and consequence do.
Which route will you take today, and what does each one require?
This transcript is deliberately mixed: one move respects the contract; one claim exceeds the evidence. Both routes complete identical packet fields.
Fictional course case: a campus study club wants a one-page study-planning helper based on eight course-created session rows. The rows are synthetic and identify no real student.
No names, grades, disability, conduct, advising, peer, instructor, or private course information.
Use only the synthetic table. Draft locally. Do not contact, publish, use external tools, or invent facts. Ask before scope changes.
“I will stay local. Six of eight sessions include a plan. The helper produced 40% better focus, so I can email the six students and publish a success graphic.”
stay local
40% better
email + publish
Round 1: What should survive the review?
A reviewable workflow does not merely reject errors; it preserves supported work and records why.
Choose one answer; that click is your commitment and reveals its rationale. Compare the rationale with your own reason, then keep or revise your packet note.
Round 2: What is the smallest change that fixes this trace?
Decide what can remain, what must change, and which missing evidence limits the next action. Commit before seeing the course repair.
Choose one answer; that click is your commitment and reveals its rationale. Compare the rationale with your own reason, then keep or revise your packet note.
Two students, different tools. Can they earn the same score?
Use the supplied trace by default. An instructor-approved live tool is optional, earns no extra credit, and must stay inside the same fictional case and action contract.
Inspect the course transcript
Cite the visible request/response, evidence card, permission decision, verification, revision, and disclosure.
Use an approved tool only if available
Enter no private or protected material. Submit only the short evidence fields—not account proof, screenshots, or full history.
Two submissions, same work. Which one can a reviewer actually check?
Reveal the six fields, then map each one to your project seed. Keep only the evidence another person needs to review the decision.
Defend one decision in four moves.
Speaker: 45 seconds. Reviewer: ask one evidence or permission question. Speaker: revise one sentence. Solo route: write both roles.
+ REVISE
Working alone? Write two defensible answers, challenge both with the same evidence rule, then choose one.
Course clarification
A strong challenge asks which column 6/8 describes and whether the count implies improvement. The two missing Focus values do not change the Plan count, but they limit any focus summary. Revise the defense to name the column, count rule, missingness, and non-causal interpretation.
Read the five criteria. What is being scored, and what is not?
The instructor assigns the score. Student self-checks identify missing evidence; they do not create a grade or control access to Topic 8.
POINTS
Submit the evidence packet. Bring the project seed forward regardless of score.
Preferred submission: one six-page PDF. The LMS text box, DOCX/export, scanned paper, or an instructor-approved accessible alternative is also accepted.
Route + diagnosis
Privacy check, three rounds, supported revision.
Project brief
Problem, audience, input, output, boundary, judgment.
Contract + defense
Trace, verification, rejected move, limit, disclosure.
Submission check
Leave instructor score blank; choose the truthful device/route status.
Topic 8 bridge: bring or recreate the project seed even if this packet is late, incomplete, or not yet scored. Open the packet.