Building Strong Mathematical Backgrounds in Physics Part I: Re-evaluating Course Structure to Encourage Deeper Learning

With the advent of AI tools, graded homework has become outdated as a metric for assessing student knowledge of course material; in practice, graded homework acts as large percentage buffer on students' overall grades. Because of this, students are able to pass a class without mastering the material, which will often hinder their learning in subsequent classes. Course structure should intentionally reflect that mastery is expected and what mastery looks like. Along this line, given that grading homework is a large proportion of TA time allocation, this reduces the impact that any given TA can have upon student success in the course. We will present our overall course structure, student course reviews and outline our plans to incorporate this structure into other courses within the physics undergrad cirriculum.