No. Pedagrade runs its own private AI on hardware we own and operate. There's no OpenAI or Anthropic account to connect, no API key to paste, and no per-use AI fees. You just paste your course and run the review. (To use Pedagrade inside ChatGPT or Claude, you use your own account there.)

Yes. Your content is analyzed on our own hardware to produce your review. Pedagrade never sends it to any outside AI company, and never uses it to train anything. Your reviews are saved to your own account so you can reopen them, and you can delete any of them. That's the whole reason it runs on our own AI rather than a third-party API. If you use Pedagrade inside ChatGPT or Claude, the chat lives in your ChatGPT or Claude account as usual, and Pedagrade only gets the text the assistant sends it. Pedagrade's check still runs on its own AI.

In our database, on servers in the United States, encrypted and backed up daily. The checks run on our own server, and your course is never sent to an outside AI company.

Pedagrade has the ability to see courses saved in your account, because it runs the service. We don't look at them unless you ask us to, for example when you want help with a review.

Yes. That's how it remembers your course: your reviews, course projects, and lesson checks stay in your account so you can pick up where you left off. You can delete any review yourself, and to delete everything, email support@pedagrade.com.

Rather we didn't keep it? Turn off Keep my course text in the account menu at app.pedagrade.com. Your checks still run and your reports are saved, but not your course text, everywhere you use Pedagrade. It's your choice, and you can switch it back anytime.

Every report opens with the verdict, and Why this score sits right under it: the one to three biggest reasons, and the change that would raise the score most. A few rules keep the number fair:

One missing piece counts once. If a course has no stated objectives, no practice, or no feedback on practice, you get one must-fix finding and one score limit, not a zero on every check it touches.

Every score has a reason. A check can only score low when it found a serious problem you can see in the report.

Pick what you are checking. A reading, a quiz, or a job aid is not judged as a full course. Checks that don't apply say so instead of scoring zero.

If a score still looks wrong, tell us right on the report. Every review asks whether the score is fair, and your answer goes into our next round of tests.

Yes. Before you run a review, choose what you are checking: a full course or module, a single lesson, a reading or textbook chapter, a quiz or assessment, or a job aid. Pedagrade judges each one on what it should do. A reading isn't marked down for having no practice, and a job aid isn't checked for learning objectives. If you run something that looks like a reading as a full course, Pedagrade asks whether to review it as a reading instead, at no extra cost.

Probably. Here is every framework and exactly how Pedagrade covers it today.

Tested, and counted in your score: Bloom's Taxonomy (revised); assessment alignment, which is also how Backward Design and Understanding by Design (UbD) work (objectives, then assessments, then activities); quiz and test item quality; Merrill's First Principles; Gagné's Nine Events; Mayer's multimedia principles and cognitive load; and accessibility content checks against WCAG 2.1 AA, the standard behind Section 508.

In beta (shown, not scored): usability, based on Nielsen's heuristics for courses, and plain language (the Federal Plain Language Guidelines: sentence length, passive voice, reading level, acronyms), measured in code rather than by the AI, and Universal Design for Learning (based on CAST's UDL Guidelines 3.0; Pedagrade is not affiliated with CAST), which counts a design option only when it can quote it from your course, Keller's ARCS motivation model (attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction), retrieval practice and spacing (recall practice with feedback, spread across the course), and Kirkpatrick evaluation readiness (whether the course is built so all four levels can be measured; Kirkpatrick is a registered trademark of Kirkpatrick Partners, and Pedagrade is not affiliated with them).

Built-in rubric: OSCQR, SUNY's open course quality rubric.

Anything else: bring it. Upload your team's checklist or rubric (Word, a spreadsheet, or paste it in) and Pedagrade checks your course against every line, quoting the part of the course that proves each answer. That covers action mapping checklists, your institution's course review rubric, or your own style guide.

Process models like ADDIE and SAM describe how you build, not what is in the course. Pedagrade fits their Develop and Evaluate steps: check each piece while you design it, then review the whole course before launch.

Paste a design document or storyboard, script, or transcript directly, or upload a file: Word (.docx), PowerPoint (.pptx), PDF, plain text, Markdown, JSON, or XML. For slide decks, the on-slide text and the speaker notes are both pulled in; for Word, the body text, tables, and text boxes. Building in Articulate Storyline or Rise? Export the translation file (Storyline: File, then Translation, then Export, as Word or XLIFF) and upload that. Teaching in Canvas? Export the course (Settings, then Export Course Content) and upload the .imscc file; Pedagrade reads every module in order, including quiz questions. Old .doc files need to be saved as .docx first.

Review is a full course review of a finished course, or of a finished design document or storyboard, the check you run before launch. Checking while you design is for the work in progress: open your design document or storyboard in Word or Google Docs and Pedagrade checks each section as you go, or paste each lesson into the web app. Pedagrade checks that lesson against your objectives, shows which ones are covered so far, suggests a few things to consider for that lesson, and lists what the course still needs next, so it stays aligned instead of drifting. A free account has 10 lesson and quiz checks in all, including any used during the free week, and the Individual plan keeps them going. Checking as you write in Word and Google Docs is part of the free week and the Individual plan.

Yes. Pedagrade works alongside you in the tools you already build in, with one account and the same checks everywhere. In ChatGPT or Claude, add it from the plugin or connector directory (how to add it), attach a lesson or storyboard, and type “Use Pedagrade to review this course.” No setup needed. On the web, upload a file at app.pedagrade.com. In Microsoft Word (from Microsoft Marketplace), a panel beside your document checks a selection or the whole document, goes one fix at a time, and adds each fix as a Word comment on the exact line; add it yourself in about a minute. In Google Docs, install it from the Google Workspace Marketplace. Inside ChatGPT or Claude, the chat lives in your ChatGPT or Claude account, and Pedagrade only gets the text the assistant sends it. Pedagrade itself never sends your course to any outside AI company. How to use Pedagrade, step by step.

Draft is a quick triage pass for a fast read on where a course stands. Rigorous is a deeper analysis for the courses that matter. Both are anchored to the same learning-science rubric. Rigorous just looks harder and explains more.

Alongside the alignment map, open, established lenses, no proprietary black box. Every recommendation names the principle it draws on. Here's what the core ones check (the newer beta checks, like plain language, UDL, ARCS, retrieval practice, and Kirkpatrick readiness, are listed in the framework question above):

• Bloom's Taxonomy (revised): are your learning objectives measurable and observable (real action verbs), pitched at the right cognitive level, mapped against Anderson & Krathwohl's 2001 hierarchy?
• Mayer's Multimedia Principles: cognitive load: is content chunked, are visuals paired with the words that explain them, is redundant or distracting material trimmed?
• Gagné's Nine Events: instructional sequence: does the course gain attention, state objectives, activate prior knowledge, present content, then give practice and feedback?
• Merrill's First Principles: problem-centered design: real tasks, demonstration, application, and integration, not just information.
• Assessment Alignment: does every quiz or test question actually measure a stated objective (constructive alignment)?
• WCAG 2.1 AA (accessibility): the content basics are tested: alt text for images, captions and transcripts, meaning not carried by color alone, descriptive link text, and instructions that don't rely on shape or position. Other WCAG checks (heading structure and reading order, plain language, timing and flashing, keyboard use, labels and error messages) are in beta.
• Usability & learner experience (beta): can a learner orient and act without friction? Clear starting point and navigation, each activity's purpose and connection, instructions before the task, consistency, progress/wayfinding, obvious help, and error prevention and recovery.

A note on WCAG: Pedagrade reviews accessibility at the design and content level, where most issues start, so you catch them early and cheaply. It reads the material you provide. The finished-course check also reads the published files for alt text, captions, and interactions a keyboard can't use, but it is not a full technical conformance scan and does not replace manual testing of the built output with a keyboard and screen reader. Think of it as the design-stage safety net that keeps accessibility defects from reaching QA.

One row per learning objective, showing where it's taught, practiced, and assessed in your course. Pedagrade flags the gaps: an objective nobody practices, a quiz question that tests recall when the objective asks learners to apply, an objective nothing measures, and quiz items that serve no objective at all. Click any cell to see the evidence and what to strengthen. Practice and assessment include knowledge checks, scenarios, discussions, and projects, not just quizzes. The free review shows the totals and the first objective; a full review (the Individual plan) shows the full map and exports it.

You can tell it. Pick the course type (fully online, hybrid, in-person with online parts, or self-paced) and the class size, and Pedagrade adjusts its recommendations the way an experienced reviewer would. For example, a large class doesn't need varied assignments, and a self-paced course needs practice built in because no instructor fills the gap. It still flags objective, alignment, and accessibility issues in any context.

Yes. Every review and lesson check carries a report code and a verify link. Anyone with the link can confirm that Pedagrade produced it and that the result hasn't been changed. The verify page shows only the facts (the date, the score, and what was checked), never your course text.

Yes. Every finding includes a written rewrite, and with one click Pedagrade applies the fixes you approve back into your course and returns a revised draft, with a change log of exactly what changed. You review every edit, and export the result to Word or Markdown. Applying fixes comes with a full review (the Individual plan).

Both. Beyond the fixes for the course in front of you, every review ends with a short practice plan: two to four prioritized habits to build, written designer-to-designer, so you apply the lesson to your next course instead of repeating the mistake. It teaches while it reviews, which is especially useful for helping a whole team internalize good practice.

Yes, with Playtest. Drop in the zip you’d upload to your LMS at app.pedagrade.com/playtest. A test learner takes it start to finish, takes the quiz, and checks what your LMS heard: slides no one can get past, completion your LMS never hears, buttons a keyboard user can’t reach, and where a learner gets lost. It works with Storyline, Rise, Captivate, iSpring, any SCORM, and cmi5, takes about 10 minutes, and emails you the fix list. Your first playtest is free; the Individual plan includes them. How Playtest works

Usually about a minute. Paste or upload, pick what matters most if you like, choose Draft or Rigorous, and the report walks you through it: the verdict and what to fix first, then one fix at a time, each showing what's in your course and what to paste instead. The full report lists every fix, most important first, as Must fix, Worth a look, and Consider, with the alignment map. You decide what to change.

Yes, for three or more designers. Team pricing depends on your team's size, so we work it out together. Email todd@pedagrade.com to set it up. Higher education departments and universities get an annual contract. There's also a short page built for teams you can show your manager to make the case. We'd like to hear how your team would use it.

Every new account starts with a free week of the Individual plan: full reviews, every fix, and checking while you design in Word and Google Docs, everywhere Pedagrade works. No card needed. The week starts with your first check, not when you sign up. After the week, a free account has one review (the score, the verdict, and the top 3 fixes) and 10 lesson checks in all, counting any you used during the week. To keep full access after the week, the Individual plan is $9.99 a month or $99 a year for every course: full reviews (up to 50 a day), checking while you design, the full alignment map, one-click revised drafts, export to PDF, Word, Markdown, and CSV, and an invoice for your expense report. Your price stays the same for as long as you stay subscribed. Team pricing depends on your team's size (email todd@pedagrade.com), and higher education gets an annual contract. No API keys, no per-use AI fees, cancel anytime. See pricing →

No. The free week needs no card, so nothing is charged when it ends. Your account becomes a free account, and you choose whether to subscribe.

Sign in at app.pedagrade.com, open the account menu, and choose Manage subscription. That opens the billing page, where you can cancel, update your card, or download receipts. You can cancel anytime, and you keep the Individual plan until the end of the period you paid for.

Yes. If you're not happy, email support@pedagrade.com within 14 days of a payment and we'll refund it in full.

They stay saved in your account. On a free account, each saved review shows the score, the verdict, and the top 3 fixes. Subscribe again and every fix is back. You can delete any review yourself, and to delete your whole account, email support@pedagrade.com.