Job Discussion Forums

[nomad soul]

This topic is for EFL teachers as well as those attending university.

- As a teacher, how do you handle students' late submission of assignments? Similarly, if you're studying for a degree, what's your instructor's or university's policy for submitting late work?

- Do you think the policy (or lack thereof) is fair or unfair to students?

- What would be the ideal policy for turning in late work? (See the poll choices.)

Your comments are welcome!

[spiral78]

Hmmm. I can't click a poll option because I prefer something along the lines of 'rigid, with a few exceptional cases considered.'

I teach European university students - very much adult students. One past student came to the second class without her homework (that one piece was worth 10% of final grade). She simply said she'd been too busy to do it, followed by a litany of woes. F for the work; anything else would have been disrespectful to her classmates who have the exact same school schedule and who all managed to do the task. It was only about a page and a half anyway.


Another student later had a doctor's note explaining that he was on some sort of painkillers that make him sleep most of the time, so if he handed in tasks late, I of course couldn't deduct for lateness. A student who's had a death in the family or other catastrophic event also deserves some special treatment, IMO.

[esl_prof]

I'm with Spiral on this one. I like to run a tight ship but, if a student has to fly all the way back to, say, East Africa to tend an ailing parent, well . . . a little flexibility is in order.

I did, on one occasion, have a student disappear six weeks before the end of the term and, then, e-mail me at 7:00am on Christmas Day--long after final grades had already been posted--to ask if she could still take the final exam. Needless to say, I didn't bother to reply to that e-mail.

Thankfully, most instances of tardiness are not nearly so dramatic.

[nomad soul]

I consider rigid to mean there's no penalty turning in late work if the student provides a valid, written excuse. Flexible is when there's a general policy in place, but it's noted that late assignment submissions "may" receive a penalty per the discretion of the instructor.

[spiral78]

Then I'm rigid. Totally. Unless you have a valid excuse

In your context above, I actually think 'flexible' could be rather unfair or perceived that way. In my case, at least, there are always some students in any group that I am more/less sympathetic to in general, and therefore some to whom I might be more likely to penalize/penalize more harshly. Even if I was scrupulously fair in fact, students may perceive a flexible policy as more open to bias or negotiation on their part. Both negatives.

[esl_prof]