Reducing Extension Emails with Flexible Due Dates
Submitted by Amy Cliff
Graphic by Brian Levac
How are you staying afloat this year?
The change I made is around due dates and accepting late submissions. In the past, I would have a due date only and end up with a bunch of emails asking me to hand in assignments late.
This semester I put on my syllabus and the assignment instructions exactly when the due date was, how long after the dropbox on Moodle would be open, and how many marks would be taken off for late submissions.
This REALLY reduced the number of student emails asking for extensions. They already knew that I would be flexible and allow them to hand in an assignment late (for ANY reason) and the student work on the late assignments has still been excellent.
The students report that they feel like they have a few days buffer on the due date and can finish the assignment and not have to rush. This has helped me stay afloat as my inbox is not flooded (see what I did there, lol) with student emails asking for extensions.
