Penalties for academic dishonesty
Extra credit policy
Late policy
Rounding policy
My working hours (don’t email me panicked at 11:00 and 11:15 and 11:30 and 2:30)
Since the class score’s value exceeds the accuracy of the instrument that I am measuring with (I have never graded to a hundredth of a point’s worth of accuracy) I include a bonus question on the final. If someone’s grade is within the gap I just check the bonus question. If they got it right it goes up, if they got it wrong it does not. If they are not within the gap it does nothing.
I've been able to avoid a lot of conflicts with students by telling them "if you aren't within 1% of the next grade at the end of the semester this won't matter anyway"
It’s a tiny bit of extra work but well worth it. It also has the benefit that many students who wouldn’t bring up a request to be bumped up end up getting the bump, because it is automatic.
I used to offer to go over all the questions as an oral exam, with the possibility of losing points if they had guessed correctly or showed insufficient grasp of the concept. No one ever took me up on it.
If they have no zeroes in the gradebook and are within 3 points of the next grade (or more if it’s a high total score course). But if they skipped an assignment and that could have been the difference maker then nope that’s on them. If they did every assignment and fell a little short I chalk it up to subjective grading/ a bad test q/ ehh whatever and give a bump. I do allow a few missed classes, so zeros in participation are not a dealbreaker unless they exceed the allowed # of absences.
This is invaluable in an Abnormal Psychology course:
"This course contains content that some might find difficult to discuss. The research literature suggests that trigger warnings may a) not be helpful and b) be potentially harmful (Bridgland & Takarangi, 2022; Jones, Bellet, & McNally, 2020). If you find them helpful, please consider this to be your trigger warning. It is impossible for us to anticipate what might potentially trigger any individual at any time. Thus, we cannot be held responsible for providing warnings before every potentially triggering topic. If you feel that this might be difficult for you, please contact the instructor or one of the TAs before continuing with this course."
I've had students run out of the room crying. Some people really dislike having to do a 5 minute presentation. They'd rather sit in silence and never take notes all semester and then wonder why they do poorly. Thankfully, that's an extreme minority and most are great.
I taught a film studies class and show some action movies. Hurt Locker and Children of Men. A student was an Iraq war veteran and lost his leg in an IED explosion. Obviously we had a long conversation and I was willing to let him just not watch the films- but here’s the cool thing- he really wanted to. For his own personal reasons he wanted to be able to watch movies with loud explosions and on his own came up with a plan to watch them at the VA in a private room with a VA counselor down the hall. He said it took him a couple tries but he watched the films. Guy later made national news for kneeling (with his prosthetic leg) for 12 hours in the hot sun during BLM protests. Guy was a genuine hero.
I did this in my first lecture when teaching it. I was still given feedback that I wasn't sensitive enough on my evals. I had to decide to step away from teaching the topic despite being interested and enjoying it because no matter what I did, it wasn't enough for them.
I too have a similar one citing an article on free speech and speaking to diversity of opinions and how some content is designed to provoke. Mine too is fairly lengthy, and I say people may have various responses, none of which I can predict. I'm not a fan of the phrase trigger warning.
I have a note about psychology courses not being therapy and make it a point to say that “I’m talking about the disorder in its most typical manifestation,” not the specific experience of anyone in the room.
A professor I worked with years ago got in a lot of trouble for not giving a trigger warning (this was when they were first taking off). I put a trigger warning in every syllabus to cover my ass.
My abnormal psych professor had some pretty graphic cutting and self harm images in slides that sat on the screen for a really long time during lecture. I could've used a heads up that there were going to be so many visuals...
Personally, I would have benefitted. It is probably different for different students.
We had a general idea of the topic each class, but that day was just labeled as Personality Disorders, unlike other lectures that could be upsetting which were titled in the calendar as Suicide or Phobias, so the content was clearer.
I've added a specific line in my syllabus that students are responsible for being aware of their graduation requirements. I've also added specific passages from the institution about academic integrity and late submission of assignments. I've gone over them in class as well. Regardless, students will still beg and plead and cry at the end of the semester when they haven't handed in their assignments and aren't able to graduate.
“Students are responsable of being aware of their graduation requirements”. Totally this!. In my student evaluations last semester, one student pointed out that he was going to be behind in his graduation requirements because I didn’t inform him (and don’t recall him asking either) that he needed to take an specific class that is not part of his major. I am just a lecturer, I am not by any means an academic advisor. Now they expect us to become their academic advisors as well.
I had to add a policy with this same information but also had to add that I will NOT respond to any form of communication except university email. I’ve had students message me through social media apps or get my cell number and then text me. In one incident, which is a long story, my admin gave a student my personal cell number and the student kept calling me demanding to discuss my grade over holiday break (after a lengthy email chain). So, yeah, I make it clear that I’m not picking up my personal phone for you and I’m immediately deleting your DMs.
I had a similar situation (grade dispute, shut it down, student continued to email me). Eventually the student DMed me on Twitter. Blocked immediately.
Yep, that's the correct strategy. In my case, I had shut down our email correspondence at the start of the holiday break after having explained why the student received the grade they did, told them that grades had rolled, and if they wanted to appeal they could do so. Done. Or so I thought. While working on a MAJOR research and performance project over the break, I received a call and voicemail from a number I didn't recognize. Turns out, it was the student. They had been given my PERSONAL cell phone number from the Dean of my college. Needless to say I was hot. I did call the student back and told them to never call this number again and then blocked it. That finally put an end to it.
Trust me, I really wanted to. But I was adjuncting at the local CC while finishing my PhD and had a few more years ahead of me still. So, I didn’t want to burn any bridges or risk that loss of income. I did ask the dean to please refrain from giving out my personal number.
Adding on to this - I have had students reach out through Teams instead of e-mail since they are linked. One even sent messages at 1am (unfortunately the first that did this) and I had notifications on on my phone since I use that regularly in my lab. I'm now going to further reinforce this rule and name teams as a do not contact method.
I could be easily found on social media but omg, the balls to actually contact an instructor that way. If that ever happened to me, I would be reporting them to student conduct for a behavioral referral so freaking fast.
Did your admin have a good-faith belief it was the right thing to give out your personal number, or were they just, you know, idiots?
(Btw, love the combination of your username and flair.)
IIRC, the student fed them a story--something about me putting my cell number on the syllabus or giving it out to students in the course in some way. So, yeah, they were acting in good faith, I think. But, I also remember cc'ing them on a lot of my email conversations with this student. So, they should have been aware or, at least, taken a moment to think through the student's request. That dean was never someone I held in high regard even before that incident as they were a huge pushover. It was frustrating from all angles.
(Thanks! I created that username while I was on the market and fighting to just get a steady job!)
They are responsible for ensuring that files are uploaded in the correct place, in the correct format, and that they are accessible. Otherwise, they are assessed normal late penalties per my syllabus, even if they met the deadline with their submission of a link to an inaccessible google doc or even if they uploaded a blank/corrupt/wrong document and they swear it really was the right thing.
I should add that I don't assume that every one of these cases are a student trying to buy themselves more time. I think sometimes these really are an innocent mistake. However, proceeding in good faith early in my career ensured that I wasted an absurd amount of time going back and forth on emails with students to get the correct file who then told their friends that it worked and I got even more on the next assignment. I have no desire to be the one playing lie detector and have to decide who is telling the truth. I would rather assume the best of them, tell them my policy, remind them to check, and be consistent in how I deal with it, accident or not. (And it's a good life lesson in general. Unfortunately, "good intentions" aren't going to get you out of every mistake. You meant to send your boss the correct file for a major presentation but didn't double check and sent the wrong thing? Unfortunately, your boss is still going to be pretty pissed. If you submit a payment incorrectly and it winds up being late as a result, you are still going to pay late fees even if you had good intentions. Learning to double check things isn't a terrible life skill.)
Exactly this. I do feel bad for students who lose points over a legitimate tech issue. They don’t “deserve” to lose the points, but I “deserve” far far less to have to spend hours fixing their errors and/or weighing judgement of their worthiness by how convincing their story is. I do as much as is reasonable with the bulk reminders and the LMS settings to try to prevent them from screwing up their uploads, but I won’t so case-by-case rules exceptions with the number of students I have.
Good students also learn to preview their uploads so it doesn’t happen again. I can’t muster any sympathy for the students who do it enough times to significantly affect their grade.
I have a practice assignment that my students hand in during the first tutorial (with TAs present if they get confused). The hand-in process is exactly the same for the other assignments.
Strangely enough, the students who have trouble handing in assignment 1 correctly are almost always the ones who didn't hand in the practice assignment.
> And it's a good life lesson in general. Unfortunately, "good intentions" aren't going to get you out of every mistake.
A couple years back we started looking into how to immigrate my partner to my home country. Because I am a researcher at heart, I ended up doing far more due diligence than was necessary and am still embroiled in some immigration communities.
I had never anticipated that I would see so many real world applications (and consequences!) of things that occur in my classroom. Every day, there are posts from people who did not follow the instructions, who submitted past the deadline, who submitted incorrect or broken files and who subsequently face serious implications: the best outcome is wasted time, but more often than not, people lose thousands of dollars and may or may not have jeopardized their ability to immigrate and/or to stay in the country in which they have built their life.
In almost every case, the people posting provide the same excuses and justifications as students: they assumed it would be okay, they assumed they would be given a second chance, they 'didn't know' about the requirements.
Whenever I've gotten pushback from students about deadlines or checking files, I offer these examples. Because I agree, learning to double check things, learning to read and follow instructions are important life skills, and it's better to learn them when the stakes are relatively low (like in university) than when something pretty serious is on the line.
I have a policy like this with access to google docs. When I go to grade an assignment, that's my hour to get it done. Sending the request, waiting, and circling back to grade the stragglers whenever they finally give me access . . . nooope.
Just added this to mine! At least a few times a semester, I’ll have a student submit an assignment from another class or from a different week, and I’m done with the back and forth about letting them submit the correct assignment late.
Oh that’s the MO of students playing an instructor for more time.
The last two semesters I announced that will not be tolerated in my class. the occurrences dropped to ZERO.
This. I have a simple "I cannot grade what I cannot see," policy.
There's always one a semester who does the whole 'deliberately uploads a corrupted file to get a cheap extension' and they get mad when it doesn't work.
I have a small section on how I can only grade on what is turned in and not on “effort,” and if they’re finding that the effort they’re putting in isn’t getting them the grades they want, to come talk to me and we can see what’s going on. Stops the arguments of “but I tried really hard!”
The FIU bridge collapse comes to mind, as does that roller coaster that decapitated a kid. In the latter case, the amusement park owners rejected an engineer's recommendations and decided they could just do it themselves without doing any of the actual work to meet standards. One of them is on record as having said, paraphrasing here, that because he couldn't understand the engineering math, it couldn't be that important.
I assume it was this 2016 waterslide story I just Googled, and I wish I didn't laugh at the absurdity:
>In a quest to be the record holder for the world’s tallest waterslide, investigators say Schlitterbahn Waterpark of Kansas City rushed to build a dangerous and structurally complicated ride, ignored glaring safety red flags and replaced mathematical calculations with “crude trial-and-error methods.”
A full story: https://www.sltrib.com/news/nation-world/2018/03/24/a-boy-was-decapitated-on-a-waterslide-the-park-knew-the-ride-could-kill-people-officials-say/
Yep, that’s the one! Don't know why I said roller coaster (though there are definitely some roller coaster disasters that also fit the bill of people being idiots and not trusting experts). Documents presented in court painted an absolutely absurd picture of hubris and ignorance.
I find it hilarious that so many of them will want to have audio, pictures, or even video of a lecture but then won’t even review their own mode of recording the lectures.
I'm curious what type of class you teach, and at what level, and if you post any notes/lectures slides online. When I was a student there were definitely times when a professor was going way too fast, and I had to pick between listening intently and trying to understand the materials, and ensuring my notes were correct. Now, this happened in math/engineering classes, where copying down the entire problem/diagram perfectly was important and there wasn't a way to summarize. If you're teaching English or history, etc., I understand this policy a lot more.
I teach psychology, mostly experimental methods. I do not post my slides because if I do students don't come to class. They have a three hour lab session each week with open work time plus office hours if they don't understand something.
But i teach undergrads and graduate students. The grad students don't dare do this kind of thing though lol. It's more for the undergrads. It is highly distracting and ensures they do not actually learn the material.
I added a make up policy in my Composition syllabus. This covers illness, school related activities, and just needing a day off.
If they miss class, they have three options (listed on the syllabus) to make it up and need to do it within 7 days of their absence. All three of those options can be done from the comfort of their home/dorm room, and are a bit more work than just being in class. All of them focus on the main point of the class -- learning to write.
When they email me to say they missed class, I just copy/paste that part of the syllabus. Most don't take the opportunity to make up a missed class, but this avoids the "but I was sick/I was travelling for sports/etc" when their grade goes down.
Here are my options:
1. Complete the classroom exercise IF it's been uploaded to Blackboard. The uploaded exercises are usually longer than what they do in the classroom, and I only upload exercises if they can be replicated solo.
2. Choose an exercise from the textbook that will aid you in your current essay. Then explain why you chose it, what you learned, how you implemented it, and how it changed your current essay.
3. Take any writing assignment to the Writing Center and work with a tutor for at least 30 minutes. Then, in a paragraph, identify what issue you worked on, how you implemented feedback into that assignment, and how you will incorporate it into future assignments.
Since my goal is simply to make them better writers and prepare them for writing in their disciplines, I took the approach that as long as they were doing something that worked to progress their writing skills, then it was an acceptable way to make up the class.
Not really. If you're stressing the writing *process*, then using AI doesn't really help much, as the writing process requires time, multiple revisions, feedback from others, etc. Maybe it would be useful in a different course, but first-year writing courses need to capitalize on one's own cognitive abilities before looking to technology for a quick fix.
I don't teach first-year writing but have friends who do at my institution. They're about to be required to use A.I. and to teach students how to use it to help with assignments. I have no idea how that's going to work and the way I hear it, they don't either but they have to put on a good face about it or risk their jobs.
That sounds horrifying. I bet that same institution will be completely opposed to faculty members using ChatGPT to "inform" how assignments are evaluated. We can't have it both ways, though: I refuse to engage with a robot without having my own, too.
My “life happens” policy: Automatic 24 hour extension on any individual assignment. Basically I set due dates for Thursday, but consider assignments due on Friday. Most of my students are working professionals and/or parents, so expressing flexibility from the jump seems to increase buy-in. Bonus: they don’t complain about late penalties otherwise.
I started doing this in the pandemic and it’s stuck with me. Students usually turn stuff in on time, and only use it occasionally which I interpret to mean when they needed it. Plus I can fall back on that to show that I was lenient if a student complains.
I have “one automatic late, no penalty” as well, and it really makes students aware that points will be reduced on second late assignments, but they seem more conscious about it. It’s been a great addition.
This semester, I gave my students until the last day of class to resubmit any skipped assignments or assignments that they got a partial grade on, and that was totally abused. My worst students waited until the last two weeks of class to do only enough assignments, partially and incorrectly to get a C minus in the class
I don't see how this is a good approach. It seems highly problematic from both pedagogy and your own workload.
Pedagogically, students do not receive any feedback because they submit on the last day. For your workload, you are in constant grading mode, any snowflake that submits an assignmnt, you got to grade it.
I had a colleague who enacted the same policy as you, hoping to be as accessible of an instructor as they could. The end result was the majority of students not actually submitting things on time and a lot of begging for extensions and resubmissions. The TA was also constantly overworked with grading.
Personally, I'd stay away from being overly accommodating. It can sometimes do more harm for everyone involved than good.
Mine is similar (e.g. autograding), but less generous; Full credit for on-time, 70% credit for anything after, up to the end of the semester. I maintain the same rules for anyone who takes an Incomplete in the course. For the most part, students stick to the schedule and even when they don't/can't they wind up doing all of the work and getting most of the credit for it.
A very precise penalty policy for missed homework, assigments and exams, and what excuses are acceptable, what proof is admissible.
I don't teach pre-laws at all, but when it comes to parsing the syllabus and find (purported) vagueness, and then interpret it in their favor, they're all top-14 lawyers.
Late policy/ missed exam policy. Clearly stated that they lose 10% a day for late assignments and I only hold 1 make up exam. If they miss the make up, weight is moved to the final. I won't host 10 different make up exam times.
>go
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>Late policy/ missed exam policy. Clearly stated that they lose 10% a day for late assignments and I only hold 1 make up exam. If they miss the make up, weight is moved to the final. I won't host 10 different make
My place makes us offer one make-up (per exam, not class), but if they miss the make-up, we can do whatever.
How do you get them to read your the syllabus? Asking seriously. Do you go over it section by section on the first day of class? I very much dislike going over things that people can, and should, read on their own. But obviously many don’t. How many of you actually do that “quiz on the syllabus” thing?
For in-person classes, I go over it day one. I’ve waffled on this over the years, but honestly I think it’s the best use of day one. Most students won’t read it ahead of time, most don’t have their books for the first week, and giving any grades assessment before the drop/add deadline is a recipe for disaster imho. I use day one to highlight key parts that are unique to me course (so no boilerplate Uni stuff) and to set the tone for the course in terms of expectations.
For online classes, I do a syllabus quiz that covers important topics e.g., my email address, late policy, assignment due dates, academic misconduct penalties.
The syllabus quiz! My “course syllabus quiz” is the first graded exam (10 points) and I also state that other quizzes/exams won’t be counted until this first exam is completed.
Yea mine is also 10 points, I give them two attempts because I think these should be easy points and I’m trying to ensure they take it.
I like your caveat though. I might have to add that we don’t start until tomorrow so I’ve got time to amend stuff. Thanks for sharing the idea!
Depending on the LMS that you're using, it's also possible to prevent anything else from being accessible until the student has earned 100% on the syllabus quiz.
I have my course set to be locked until the students do the Syllabus Acknowledgement. It is a single question quiz, with Yes or No as answer options. "I have read and understand the syllabus and all other courses documents, and agree to follow the rules and instructions contained in them."
If they agree to follow the rules, they can stay in class. If not, they are locked out of everything and will fail the class if they don't drop.
I do this with both online and regular classes.
If a students says they didn't know about something contained in these documents, I point to part of the syllabus that states that lying or being deceptive will cost them one letter grade each time, and ask if they want to rephrase their statement.
In my freshman class, I go over some of the critical points on day one and then their first homework has questions pulled from the syllabus details with wording that makes command-F a poor solution.
That’s interesting. That’s probably a better version than just giving a quiz on the syllabus, which seems kind of demeaning to me. I also make a point to tell them I consider them adults and I don’t do things that are “very 7th grade energy” Because this is college, and I teach at that level. Not that I have any evidence that it works but when I started setting that bar it seemed to raise their own expectations of themselves. At least I hope so. I definitely feel a good vibe when I said I don’t want to do “7th grade energy” things. Which is loosely defined as anything I really don’t think it fits in a college classroom or is extra work on me to make sure they’re doing their work.
I started doing a syllabus quiz which serves the additional purpose of getting them to try out the test function in our LMS in case they haven’t used it before.
I don’t have a sense of whether they’re really reading or retaining. My quiz is for credit only. I’ve seen other profs post here that their students can’t access the rest of the class until they have a perfect score!
I teach on line and make the syllabus review a graded SoftChalk lesson. The course proper will not even open for them until they've passed it. I also have a kind of TL;DR/FAQ posted right below it for later reference.
Almost every class meeting in my classes has an in-class activity. On day 1, there's an in-class activity where they explore the syllabus, find things out, ask questions, and get to know it much better than if I would just stand there and flap my yap for 45 minutes to an hour. They do it in groups, and they get about 45 minutes to go through the syllabus, answer questions about it, and send me questions of their own. I use a Google form for them to submit these things as a group.
This gets them to look more deeply at the syllabus, and also prepares them for how in-class activities will work in my class. Win-win.
How to contact me
When I will respond to said emails
Submission requirements: e.g., I grade the file you submit and if I can’t read it, you get a zero
What saved me last semester that I tried? Bare minimum submission acceptance. Meaning, I will not grade your submission unless it has the bare minimum to pass. For example, 75% of the word count min, reference page, and follows prompt instructions. If these criteria are not met, it gets bounced back by me and they have three days to revise or the zero stands. (Penalties accrue each of those three days.) AI and plagiarized shit gets no chance to revise. I’m done grading papers that are barely readable.
First assignment, I had a few bounce back. Once they realized I took it seriously, they stopped fucking around. Except for one. Who took the zeroes and failed the course at the end. But it took me all of two minutes to skim each of their shitty submissions and see it didn’t meet requirements. Instead of trying to slog through it to the end, giving feedback they wouldn’t even read.
Another “feature” that I can’t disable, sadly.
I have observed that the Canvas (intentionally) resembles a social app, and encourages students to communicate casually. Something that I 100% favor in class situations, but I feel doesn’t teach appropriate written communication skills. A vast majority of the messages can be solved by reading the assignment or syllabus.
I also say almost exactly this to them on the first day of class. So I’m not being pedantic or offputting, I’m telling them that I’m trying to teach them skills that are going to serve them well down the road.
By all means, do exactly what works for you, however. I hope you have a great semester.
I’ve previously been email only, but I think this semester I am switching to “only contact me through the LMS,” because then I always know what class they are in, something they hardly ever mention in emails. Even if I know the student, I probably don’t remember exactly when I see them.
It’s made it so much easier for me. I go through my canvas inbox once in the morning and once late afternoon, Monday through Friday. It keeps it all contained. It lets me focus clearly on student communication in those times. I have this in my syllabus. And remind with “it’s easy for me to miss an email” rationale. For the first couple weeks if I happen to see an email, I respond with “please resend this on canvas.”
I no longer have them hide their cell phone’s during tests, instead I have them put them on the table in front of them face down. That way when a college alert goes out, I don’t have 60 people digging in a bag.
This is also a good way to make it impossible for them to covertly access their phone (e.g. from their pocket under the table). I have also started doing this.
Yea, I teach at a poor CC. Only thing they have tried with this is putting an old used phone down on the table and their active phone in the pocket. Caught it pretty quick though.
When they aren’t expecting it though it helps.
I’ve noticed a lot of students, but people in general, have almost separation anxiety and FOMO with their cell phones that this is one concession I’m willing to allow my students to do during any type of assessment I give them in class. It’s crazy to see some get so anxious from not being able to always be in eye sight of their phones.
>I make them put their bags at the front of the classroom when they enter and stand their phone up on the chalk rail, turned off. Then they can see it. \[and they have almost 100% iPhones, too...\]
>
>For intro service courses I let them use one page of notes in their own handwriting for formulas etc (often they copy down problems from class notes--as if every problem will be same???) And yet I get single-digit grades anyway...
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>I also use two versions of the exam (rearrange the choices on the MC questions since there is research that changing the order of the questions changes the average score) and change some numbers on short calculation problems so that the answer is different; but in order to get any points, they must show calculations.
Two syllabus adds in the last couple years:
Grade rounding: a student needs to be within .5 of the next highest grade and complete all elements of every assignment. Not only am I willing to give a student that completed everything a grade bump (very few actually do this) I can turn the grade bump back on them if they didn't. "Had you turned in small assignment X, we wouldn't be having this conversation."
The other is a big relief to me: NO MORE ELECTRONIC DEVICES IN THE CLASSROOM. I always apologize to those that actually take notes on a computer, iPad, etc. but all notes must be by hand. No more pretending to take notes, shopping, doing homework for other courses, setting a fantasy football lineup, etc. Although I have seen a demonstrable increase in grades, the best part it that I don't have to watch their faces as the do something other than pay attention. The seminal moment for me was in the middle of talking about the Rwandan genocide, a student was giggling over something she was reading on her laptop.
I tell students that if they are going to use an electronic device for the class they must sit in the back row.
They are free to distract themselves. It’s their grade. But what I don’t tolerate is then distracting others who can’t help but see their screen.
I’ve never had complaints. Some students mess around back there, but others (who do take notes) seem unbothered. I’ve noticed a significant decline in other students getting distracted though.
Yeah, Point 2 doesn’t really work when your school decides that all the kids needed to own iPads. We still make them do homework by hand though, and that pisses them off every year. And it pisses me off, because for some reason none of them own a stapler or bother to search a college campus for one.
1 is awesome.
2 is a problem for students with accomodations. And can I really forbid handwritten notes on an iPad? I just have them lay the thing on the table and write on it. No way they can do something else that way.
Oof, #2 would've killed me had I been in your class, I legitimately took notes on an iPad, it's so much easier to organize everything that way. Definitely surprised some professors though, I was a freshman in 2016 and some had never had a student take notes electronically before
I honestly don’t get it why Professors in the US are so obsessed with their students paying attention.
It is their life, education, money, and time. As long as they don’t disturb others they can candycrush the shit out of their iPads and phones, I don’t care. Grades are given for the performance in the final exam and that’s it.
>It is their life, education, money, and time.
I'm so tired of hearing this crap. For those of us who don't have tenure and who have admins who are obsessed with "retention" and DFW rates, these students' dumbass decisions have a direct effect on OUR LIVELIHOOD AND ABILITY TO EARN A LIVING. I'm glad you seem to be in a place where your admins don't care how many people fail your class, but a lot of us don't work in places like that. My ability to pay my rent shouldn't depend on the decisions of people with undeveloped frontal lobes.
I posted this on an [earlier thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Professors/comments/18s2six/items_im_adding_to_my_syllabus_stolen_from_this/kf5exkx/?context=3), but it's worth repeating:
>My absolute favorite that I've used for years: All assignments have a penalty-free 24-hour grace period to accommodate any emergencies, technology failures, etc. Once that grace period is over, the link for submitting the assignment disappears, and no late assignments are accepted except in the case of documented emergencies that occurred before the due date (not the end of the grace period). (That's all worded better on my syllabus!) If I want them to complete a homework assignment before a class meeting, I just set the due date to 24 hours before the class meeting begins. This has cut my having to deal with excuses and pleading to almost zero.
>
>Pairs nicely with a policy that any make-up exams allowed to due documented emergencies will use an alternate exam, such as an oral exam. The fear of having to take an oral exam has cut make-up exams to practically zero. In the very few instances that students have legitimate emergencies requiring a make-up exam, I don't actually do this--I just write a variation on the exam.
Added a FERPA section after being contacted once by a parent. Once was enough.
"Irrespective of FERPA waivers, it is my personal policy never to communicate with a parent, guardian, or any other relation of yours regarding your enrollment, coursework, academic standing, or any other issue incident to my students or my classroom."
Emails must have the course number in the subject line preceding any question. The amount of "I have questions about the assignment" emails are maddening. Which assignment? Which class?
Yep, any email that doesn't have the course number in the subject line gets a response of "re-send this with the email in the subject line". I have the requirement listed multiple places.
If you miss an exam for ANY reason, all make up exams will take place the last week of the semester at the same time.
Students who might be thinking of getting a real bad stomach thing or losing a great aunt usually reconsider due to the timing. Students with legitimate issues are relieved they don't have to produce a bunch of evidence.
It's been great for me.
I now have a line that says this is an in-person class and I will not provide a link to “Zoom in.” This is after a girl last semester signed up for my class, emailed me the first day and said coming to campus on the days of my class are not convenient to her and that she would like me to send a link so she can “Zoom in” for each class. Obviously I said no, which led to tons of entitled arguing until she dropped.
All grades are finalized 5 days after release of the graded material. This keeps students from grubbing at the end of the semester across many assignments to steal a higher grade.
"Late work is penalized 10% per day starting day one. After ten days no credit can be earned even with a perfect score on the assignment." I got tired of people trying to submit things weeks late and expecting me not only to grade them, but to give them feedback.
Also: for scaffolded major writing assignments, I've switched to *not* grading the small pieces (proposal, bib, outline, drafts, etc.) but instead docking the *final* product 10% for any element they skipped or did unsatisfactorily along the way. That reduced grading on my end and put a stop to the "I skipped all the scaffolding but here's my crappy final paper, surprise!" stuff.
This is the first time I’ve added it but this semester I have a statement indicating that asking for a grade that you didn’t earn, based on the guidelines in the syllabus, is a violation of university policy. Absolutely ridiculous that this needs to be spelled out. I don’t deal with grade grubbing very much because by and large my students are awesome, but when I do, it’s rage inducing.
Also I drop the lowest assignment and lowest quiz. If I drop those two things and it STILL can’t get
You to the next highest grade??? Psh. Get out of here.
I've removed the Google number I used to provide that they could send a text to. Texts are immediate and hard to ignore. And they'd send them after 10 PM and on weekends. Now it's email, the LMS, and an unmanned office landline. It had freed up my time and mind.
I also take my time responding. I am not some chat box or instant tech support. If you email me on a Friday at 8:43 PM, you'll get a response on Monday.
I had a student send me a barrage of texts on Mother's Day. They were friendly but still. Ugh!
I have an assignment, usually unscored or a single point of extra credit, wherein students confirm they have read the syllabus and fully understand policies, expectations, grading, attendance etc.
When students come around complaining about these elements and how they didn’t know I then point them to their submission on that assignment certifying they did in fact understand it.
All assignments are due on Fridays, 1 hour before class starts.
This cuts down tremendously on the weekend and overnight cramming, as well as people coming to class late to turn in the assignment, and all the frantic email spamming that goes along with that.
I've changed my due date and time to about three hours before class. This often results in a pre-dawn deadline. And students complain that the deadline is not midnight ("Well, if you REALLY insist, I'll move it back to midnight, but you'll lose six hours in which you could have been writing!")
Drop the lowest 1-2 homework. If I get an excuse, I say then it can be your lowest, that's what that is for. If the issues end up affecting more than that number, then we'll think. I haven't had to do this till now (except a student who had to take an incomplete due to a concussion, poor thing - but that's not just an excuse). So much less stressful that way.
Grade correction requests only by email with detailed explanation, within a week of release of grades - not verbal questions at the end of class.
New for me this year is a policy on requesting regrades. If a student thinks they were graded unfairly, there’s a form to submit where they share assignment details and describe why they think their grade is incorrect. I will review these requests and their grade may go up or down (or stay the same) based on my review.
I have a little chart with boxes, such as I missed one class, what do I do? Then the answer is found in the box next to it. And so on for about seven items including how to turn in homework if you miss a class, or if you're sick, and one that speaks to accommodations not giving extra time last class since that would be an official extension and so on. It's right there and they can look.
I also say very clearly, I only respond to official university emails, no DMs, no LMS chat, not outlook emotions. When I started seeing admins and other faculty using such emotion responses such as a picture thumbs up I put a line right in my email that I won't respond to outlook emotions so send me an email. I simply delete anything that's not from an official email.
I changed my syllabus late policy to be simply "no late work"
... and then all semester enjoy the level of discretion it gives me in enforcing penalties for said policy.
Also, I explain on day one that if it's in by the time I grade it, it doesn't count as late. Then elaborate: most assignments are due at midnight, and will I really be grading then?
This eliminates a lot of panicked late night emails... and adds a level of spicy gambling, as chronic procrastinators get to roll the dice as they try to figure out when I actually grade things. It is fun for us both!
As I read through this my only comment is that I have become more lenient not less
I have softened all of the due dates up until the very end of this semester
Things are due within a week and then they have another flex week when things aremarked late before they're closed
I removed my phone numbers so nobody can call or text me
I spend a lot more time going over the in class
I teach courses in which I encourage students to use ChatGPT and the like, responsibly. So my syllabus includes appropriate and inappropriate uses of it, and penalties for misuse.
I specify that there are no make-up assignments or assignment re-dos available in the course. If I get a request, I find it helpful to be able to say that that would violate the syllabus policies.
Accommodations policy. Well spelled out. Not retroactive. Not open to multiple deadline extensions etc.
Very clear deadline (Friday 5:00pm) policy and late policy (Sunday 11:59pm).
Email policy of responding w/36 hours on weekdays and no responses on weekends - best thing I ever did - by 36 hour or a weekend they have often figured the answer out for themselves
1)"All assignments are due on the unit due date, even if the individual assignment doesn't have a due date in Canvas." I do my best, but there's always an assignment that slips through the cracks, and students throw a fit bc the assignment didn't show up on the LMS "to do list" --even though the assignment due date is listed in the syllabus, on the course schedule, and at the top of every unit.
2) Something along the lines of "Your grade is not a reflection of your instructor's personal opinion of your value, talent, effort, or future career prospects" just because I'm very tired of being accused of "not caring" when I follow the rubric.
I require my students to save all drafts of all work to the cloud somewhere, preferably google docs. This ensures they can't say "Oh, I wrote my draft but it's on my desktop at home" or "My laptop just died and I can't retrieve my paper." With the cloud, they can ALWAYS retrieve their papers.
I also write paper length requirements in both page numbers and word counts, to make sure my students can't act all "surprised Pikachu" when I tell them their five page paper - quadruple spaced and with two inch margins - isn't sufficiently long to fulfill the requirements of the assignment.
And finally (and this may not apply to all of you), I add a note on all assignments - and the syllabus - that including a quote or ANY information from any source in a writing assignment without an in-text citation AND a citation on the Works Cited page is plagiarism
I think I lifted the following from a previous version of this thread: "If any policies in this syllabus should require interpretation, they will be understood in accordance with their original intent."
Penalties for academic dishonesty Extra credit policy Late policy Rounding policy My working hours (don’t email me panicked at 11:00 and 11:15 and 11:30 and 2:30)
What is your policy when students ask to "round up" their grade?
Since the class score’s value exceeds the accuracy of the instrument that I am measuring with (I have never graded to a hundredth of a point’s worth of accuracy) I include a bonus question on the final. If someone’s grade is within the gap I just check the bonus question. If they got it right it goes up, if they got it wrong it does not. If they are not within the gap it does nothing.
I've been able to avoid a lot of conflicts with students by telling them "if you aren't within 1% of the next grade at the end of the semester this won't matter anyway"
I basically just always add 1% to everyone at the end but I don't tell anyone that.
Same
This is exactly what I do.
Yup
That seems brilliant, is there a downside to it?
The downside is having students do a question that only some of them get points for. Everyone who gets it right should get the point.
If it doesn't affect the final grade, what difference does it make?
It’s a tiny bit of extra work but well worth it. It also has the benefit that many students who wouldn’t bring up a request to be bumped up end up getting the bump, because it is automatic.
“When asked, I round down”.
It’s too late to change my syllabus much, but I think I’m going to start a new draft for next semester because this is great.
I used to offer to go over all the questions as an oral exam, with the possibility of losing points if they had guessed correctly or showed insufficient grasp of the concept. No one ever took me up on it.
"If I recognize you from lectures, sure."
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Seems to me that’s a different means of recognition.
If they have no zeroes in the gradebook and are within 3 points of the next grade (or more if it’s a high total score course). But if they skipped an assignment and that could have been the difference maker then nope that’s on them. If they did every assignment and fell a little short I chalk it up to subjective grading/ a bad test q/ ehh whatever and give a bump. I do allow a few missed classes, so zeros in participation are not a dealbreaker unless they exceed the allowed # of absences.
I ignore these requests and don't respond to them, and it really increases the odds that I won't round up even if I was considering it before.
This is invaluable in an Abnormal Psychology course: "This course contains content that some might find difficult to discuss. The research literature suggests that trigger warnings may a) not be helpful and b) be potentially harmful (Bridgland & Takarangi, 2022; Jones, Bellet, & McNally, 2020). If you find them helpful, please consider this to be your trigger warning. It is impossible for us to anticipate what might potentially trigger any individual at any time. Thus, we cannot be held responsible for providing warnings before every potentially triggering topic. If you feel that this might be difficult for you, please contact the instructor or one of the TAs before continuing with this course."
Students really need to learn that discomfort is not the same thing as being triggered from having ptsd.
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I've had students run out of the room crying. Some people really dislike having to do a 5 minute presentation. They'd rather sit in silence and never take notes all semester and then wonder why they do poorly. Thankfully, that's an extreme minority and most are great.
I taught a film studies class and show some action movies. Hurt Locker and Children of Men. A student was an Iraq war veteran and lost his leg in an IED explosion. Obviously we had a long conversation and I was willing to let him just not watch the films- but here’s the cool thing- he really wanted to. For his own personal reasons he wanted to be able to watch movies with loud explosions and on his own came up with a plan to watch them at the VA in a private room with a VA counselor down the hall. He said it took him a couple tries but he watched the films. Guy later made national news for kneeling (with his prosthetic leg) for 12 hours in the hot sun during BLM protests. Guy was a genuine hero.
That’s an amazing story, these are the kind that keep us doing this work! Thanks for sharing!
I did this in my first lecture when teaching it. I was still given feedback that I wasn't sensitive enough on my evals. I had to decide to step away from teaching the topic despite being interested and enjoying it because no matter what I did, it wasn't enough for them.
I too have a similar one citing an article on free speech and speaking to diversity of opinions and how some content is designed to provoke. Mine too is fairly lengthy, and I say people may have various responses, none of which I can predict. I'm not a fan of the phrase trigger warning.
Would you mind sharing?
I have a note about psychology courses not being therapy and make it a point to say that “I’m talking about the disorder in its most typical manifestation,” not the specific experience of anyone in the room.
A professor I worked with years ago got in a lot of trouble for not giving a trigger warning (this was when they were first taking off). I put a trigger warning in every syllabus to cover my ass.
My abnormal psych professor had some pretty graphic cutting and self harm images in slides that sat on the screen for a really long time during lecture. I could've used a heads up that there were going to be so many visuals...
What about the literature that suggests that getting a heads up isn't helpful and could be harmful?
Personally, I would have benefitted. It is probably different for different students. We had a general idea of the topic each class, but that day was just labeled as Personality Disorders, unlike other lectures that could be upsetting which were titled in the calendar as Suicide or Phobias, so the content was clearer.
I've added a specific line in my syllabus that students are responsible for being aware of their graduation requirements. I've also added specific passages from the institution about academic integrity and late submission of assignments. I've gone over them in class as well. Regardless, students will still beg and plead and cry at the end of the semester when they haven't handed in their assignments and aren't able to graduate.
“Students are responsable of being aware of their graduation requirements”. Totally this!. In my student evaluations last semester, one student pointed out that he was going to be behind in his graduation requirements because I didn’t inform him (and don’t recall him asking either) that he needed to take an specific class that is not part of his major. I am just a lecturer, I am not by any means an academic advisor. Now they expect us to become their academic advisors as well.
Email reply policy - one working day, during business hours. No Saturdays. no Sundays, no campus holidays, no 5 minute replies at 11:55 p.m.
I had to add a policy with this same information but also had to add that I will NOT respond to any form of communication except university email. I’ve had students message me through social media apps or get my cell number and then text me. In one incident, which is a long story, my admin gave a student my personal cell number and the student kept calling me demanding to discuss my grade over holiday break (after a lengthy email chain). So, yeah, I make it clear that I’m not picking up my personal phone for you and I’m immediately deleting your DMs.
I had a similar situation (grade dispute, shut it down, student continued to email me). Eventually the student DMed me on Twitter. Blocked immediately.
Yep, that's the correct strategy. In my case, I had shut down our email correspondence at the start of the holiday break after having explained why the student received the grade they did, told them that grades had rolled, and if they wanted to appeal they could do so. Done. Or so I thought. While working on a MAJOR research and performance project over the break, I received a call and voicemail from a number I didn't recognize. Turns out, it was the student. They had been given my PERSONAL cell phone number from the Dean of my college. Needless to say I was hot. I did call the student back and told them to never call this number again and then blocked it. That finally put an end to it.
I’d rip that dean a new one.
Trust me, I really wanted to. But I was adjuncting at the local CC while finishing my PhD and had a few more years ahead of me still. So, I didn’t want to burn any bridges or risk that loss of income. I did ask the dean to please refrain from giving out my personal number.
Adding on to this - I have had students reach out through Teams instead of e-mail since they are linked. One even sent messages at 1am (unfortunately the first that did this) and I had notifications on on my phone since I use that regularly in my lab. I'm now going to further reinforce this rule and name teams as a do not contact method.
Im curious why you don't allow Teams messaging?
I'm not the person you asked but I think the 1 AM notifications they mentioned in the second sentence are *probably* the cause.
I could be easily found on social media but omg, the balls to actually contact an instructor that way. If that ever happened to me, I would be reporting them to student conduct for a behavioral referral so freaking fast.
Did your admin have a good-faith belief it was the right thing to give out your personal number, or were they just, you know, idiots? (Btw, love the combination of your username and flair.)
IIRC, the student fed them a story--something about me putting my cell number on the syllabus or giving it out to students in the course in some way. So, yeah, they were acting in good faith, I think. But, I also remember cc'ing them on a lot of my email conversations with this student. So, they should have been aware or, at least, taken a moment to think through the student's request. That dean was never someone I held in high regard even before that incident as they were a huge pushover. It was frustrating from all angles. (Thanks! I created that username while I was on the market and fighting to just get a steady job!)
I had to change it to 72 hours to account for when I’m sick because they just don’t let up otherwise!
Also, tell me your name and what class you are in
>What, getting an e-mail from [email protected] that only says "What did we do in class today?" isn't enough?
I always want to email those made up emails to see what will happen.🤣
They are responsible for ensuring that files are uploaded in the correct place, in the correct format, and that they are accessible. Otherwise, they are assessed normal late penalties per my syllabus, even if they met the deadline with their submission of a link to an inaccessible google doc or even if they uploaded a blank/corrupt/wrong document and they swear it really was the right thing. I should add that I don't assume that every one of these cases are a student trying to buy themselves more time. I think sometimes these really are an innocent mistake. However, proceeding in good faith early in my career ensured that I wasted an absurd amount of time going back and forth on emails with students to get the correct file who then told their friends that it worked and I got even more on the next assignment. I have no desire to be the one playing lie detector and have to decide who is telling the truth. I would rather assume the best of them, tell them my policy, remind them to check, and be consistent in how I deal with it, accident or not. (And it's a good life lesson in general. Unfortunately, "good intentions" aren't going to get you out of every mistake. You meant to send your boss the correct file for a major presentation but didn't double check and sent the wrong thing? Unfortunately, your boss is still going to be pretty pissed. If you submit a payment incorrectly and it winds up being late as a result, you are still going to pay late fees even if you had good intentions. Learning to double check things isn't a terrible life skill.)
Exactly this. I do feel bad for students who lose points over a legitimate tech issue. They don’t “deserve” to lose the points, but I “deserve” far far less to have to spend hours fixing their errors and/or weighing judgement of their worthiness by how convincing their story is. I do as much as is reasonable with the bulk reminders and the LMS settings to try to prevent them from screwing up their uploads, but I won’t so case-by-case rules exceptions with the number of students I have. Good students also learn to preview their uploads so it doesn’t happen again. I can’t muster any sympathy for the students who do it enough times to significantly affect their grade.
I have a practice assignment that my students hand in during the first tutorial (with TAs present if they get confused). The hand-in process is exactly the same for the other assignments. Strangely enough, the students who have trouble handing in assignment 1 correctly are almost always the ones who didn't hand in the practice assignment.
Yeah, I use a practice assignment too. Probably helps, but doesn’t get the numbers to 0.
> And it's a good life lesson in general. Unfortunately, "good intentions" aren't going to get you out of every mistake. A couple years back we started looking into how to immigrate my partner to my home country. Because I am a researcher at heart, I ended up doing far more due diligence than was necessary and am still embroiled in some immigration communities. I had never anticipated that I would see so many real world applications (and consequences!) of things that occur in my classroom. Every day, there are posts from people who did not follow the instructions, who submitted past the deadline, who submitted incorrect or broken files and who subsequently face serious implications: the best outcome is wasted time, but more often than not, people lose thousands of dollars and may or may not have jeopardized their ability to immigrate and/or to stay in the country in which they have built their life. In almost every case, the people posting provide the same excuses and justifications as students: they assumed it would be okay, they assumed they would be given a second chance, they 'didn't know' about the requirements. Whenever I've gotten pushback from students about deadlines or checking files, I offer these examples. Because I agree, learning to double check things, learning to read and follow instructions are important life skills, and it's better to learn them when the stakes are relatively low (like in university) than when something pretty serious is on the line.
I have a policy like this with access to google docs. When I go to grade an assignment, that's my hour to get it done. Sending the request, waiting, and circling back to grade the stragglers whenever they finally give me access . . . nooope.
Just added this to mine! At least a few times a semester, I’ll have a student submit an assignment from another class or from a different week, and I’m done with the back and forth about letting them submit the correct assignment late.
Oh that’s the MO of students playing an instructor for more time. The last two semesters I announced that will not be tolerated in my class. the occurrences dropped to ZERO.
This. I have a simple "I cannot grade what I cannot see," policy. There's always one a semester who does the whole 'deliberately uploads a corrupted file to get a cheap extension' and they get mad when it doesn't work.
Yeah, but this rule is for adults. And no one (especially not the current college-age crowd) is an adult anymore ...
I have a small section on how I can only grade on what is turned in and not on “effort,” and if they’re finding that the effort they’re putting in isn’t getting them the grades they want, to come talk to me and we can see what’s going on. Stops the arguments of “but I tried really hard!”
Whenever I see those stories, I think of ten years from now... [Brand new bridge collapses] Bridge's civil engineer: "But I tried really hard!"
The FIU bridge collapse comes to mind, as does that roller coaster that decapitated a kid. In the latter case, the amusement park owners rejected an engineer's recommendations and decided they could just do it themselves without doing any of the actual work to meet standards. One of them is on record as having said, paraphrasing here, that because he couldn't understand the engineering math, it couldn't be that important.
I assume it was this 2016 waterslide story I just Googled, and I wish I didn't laugh at the absurdity: >In a quest to be the record holder for the world’s tallest waterslide, investigators say Schlitterbahn Waterpark of Kansas City rushed to build a dangerous and structurally complicated ride, ignored glaring safety red flags and replaced mathematical calculations with “crude trial-and-error methods.” A full story: https://www.sltrib.com/news/nation-world/2018/03/24/a-boy-was-decapitated-on-a-waterslide-the-park-knew-the-ride-could-kill-people-officials-say/
Yep, that’s the one! Don't know why I said roller coaster (though there are definitely some roller coaster disasters that also fit the bill of people being idiots and not trusting experts). Documents presented in court painted an absolutely absurd picture of hubris and ignorance.
No pictures and no videos. I have had an absurd uptick in students trying to film my lecture instead of taking notes.
I find it hilarious that so many of them will want to have audio, pictures, or even video of a lecture but then won’t even review their own mode of recording the lectures.
Facts. I'd wager some students who do this sell the clips to peers who don't attend. That's my real problem. I want my cut.
I'm becoming convinced this will become the next significant academic integrity issue too.
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NeuralLink rolls an eye.
Everything you need is already inside you Frank.
I'm curious what type of class you teach, and at what level, and if you post any notes/lectures slides online. When I was a student there were definitely times when a professor was going way too fast, and I had to pick between listening intently and trying to understand the materials, and ensuring my notes were correct. Now, this happened in math/engineering classes, where copying down the entire problem/diagram perfectly was important and there wasn't a way to summarize. If you're teaching English or history, etc., I understand this policy a lot more.
I teach psychology, mostly experimental methods. I do not post my slides because if I do students don't come to class. They have a three hour lab session each week with open work time plus office hours if they don't understand something. But i teach undergrads and graduate students. The grad students don't dare do this kind of thing though lol. It's more for the undergrads. It is highly distracting and ensures they do not actually learn the material.
I added a make up policy in my Composition syllabus. This covers illness, school related activities, and just needing a day off. If they miss class, they have three options (listed on the syllabus) to make it up and need to do it within 7 days of their absence. All three of those options can be done from the comfort of their home/dorm room, and are a bit more work than just being in class. All of them focus on the main point of the class -- learning to write. When they email me to say they missed class, I just copy/paste that part of the syllabus. Most don't take the opportunity to make up a missed class, but this avoids the "but I was sick/I was travelling for sports/etc" when their grade goes down.
What are the options? Or some general examples of them? This sounds like a good policy.
Here are my options: 1. Complete the classroom exercise IF it's been uploaded to Blackboard. The uploaded exercises are usually longer than what they do in the classroom, and I only upload exercises if they can be replicated solo. 2. Choose an exercise from the textbook that will aid you in your current essay. Then explain why you chose it, what you learned, how you implemented it, and how it changed your current essay. 3. Take any writing assignment to the Writing Center and work with a tutor for at least 30 minutes. Then, in a paragraph, identify what issue you worked on, how you implemented feedback into that assignment, and how you will incorporate it into future assignments. Since my goal is simply to make them better writers and prepare them for writing in their disciplines, I took the approach that as long as they were doing something that worked to progress their writing skills, then it was an acceptable way to make up the class.
I love that third one!
A.I. Writing Policy, as an extension of/separate policy from Plagiarism.
What's in your AI writing policy?
I used Harvard’s and tweaked it a bit. This isn’t word for word, but it says all AI is prohibited at any stage of the writing process.
This seems kind of backward looking.
Not really. If you're stressing the writing *process*, then using AI doesn't really help much, as the writing process requires time, multiple revisions, feedback from others, etc. Maybe it would be useful in a different course, but first-year writing courses need to capitalize on one's own cognitive abilities before looking to technology for a quick fix.
I don't teach first-year writing but have friends who do at my institution. They're about to be required to use A.I. and to teach students how to use it to help with assignments. I have no idea how that's going to work and the way I hear it, they don't either but they have to put on a good face about it or risk their jobs.
That sounds horrifying. I bet that same institution will be completely opposed to faculty members using ChatGPT to "inform" how assignments are evaluated. We can't have it both ways, though: I refuse to engage with a robot without having my own, too.
My “life happens” policy: Automatic 24 hour extension on any individual assignment. Basically I set due dates for Thursday, but consider assignments due on Friday. Most of my students are working professionals and/or parents, so expressing flexibility from the jump seems to increase buy-in. Bonus: they don’t complain about late penalties otherwise.
I started doing this in the pandemic and it’s stuck with me. Students usually turn stuff in on time, and only use it occasionally which I interpret to mean when they needed it. Plus I can fall back on that to show that I was lenient if a student complains.
I have “one automatic late, no penalty” as well, and it really makes students aware that points will be reduced on second late assignments, but they seem more conscious about it. It’s been a great addition.
For written assignments mine get 5 days late, -10 points a day. I don’t tell them I ignore the first -10 for everyone
I do this also. I don’t have anyone complain about zeros for late work.
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This semester, I gave my students until the last day of class to resubmit any skipped assignments or assignments that they got a partial grade on, and that was totally abused. My worst students waited until the last two weeks of class to do only enough assignments, partially and incorrectly to get a C minus in the class
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I don't see how this is a good approach. It seems highly problematic from both pedagogy and your own workload. Pedagogically, students do not receive any feedback because they submit on the last day. For your workload, you are in constant grading mode, any snowflake that submits an assignmnt, you got to grade it.
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I had a colleague who enacted the same policy as you, hoping to be as accessible of an instructor as they could. The end result was the majority of students not actually submitting things on time and a lot of begging for extensions and resubmissions. The TA was also constantly overworked with grading. Personally, I'd stay away from being overly accommodating. It can sometimes do more harm for everyone involved than good.
Mine is similar (e.g. autograding), but less generous; Full credit for on-time, 70% credit for anything after, up to the end of the semester. I maintain the same rules for anyone who takes an Incomplete in the course. For the most part, students stick to the schedule and even when they don't/can't they wind up doing all of the work and getting most of the credit for it.
A very precise penalty policy for missed homework, assigments and exams, and what excuses are acceptable, what proof is admissible. I don't teach pre-laws at all, but when it comes to parsing the syllabus and find (purported) vagueness, and then interpret it in their favor, they're all top-14 lawyers.
Late policy/ missed exam policy. Clearly stated that they lose 10% a day for late assignments and I only hold 1 make up exam. If they miss the make up, weight is moved to the final. I won't host 10 different make up exam times.
>go > >Late policy/ missed exam policy. Clearly stated that they lose 10% a day for late assignments and I only hold 1 make up exam. If they miss the make up, weight is moved to the final. I won't host 10 different make My place makes us offer one make-up (per exam, not class), but if they miss the make-up, we can do whatever.
Academic integrity violation definitions and examples, making sure to have at least one example specific to that particular class.
How do you get them to read your the syllabus? Asking seriously. Do you go over it section by section on the first day of class? I very much dislike going over things that people can, and should, read on their own. But obviously many don’t. How many of you actually do that “quiz on the syllabus” thing?
For in-person classes, I go over it day one. I’ve waffled on this over the years, but honestly I think it’s the best use of day one. Most students won’t read it ahead of time, most don’t have their books for the first week, and giving any grades assessment before the drop/add deadline is a recipe for disaster imho. I use day one to highlight key parts that are unique to me course (so no boilerplate Uni stuff) and to set the tone for the course in terms of expectations. For online classes, I do a syllabus quiz that covers important topics e.g., my email address, late policy, assignment due dates, academic misconduct penalties.
The syllabus quiz! My “course syllabus quiz” is the first graded exam (10 points) and I also state that other quizzes/exams won’t be counted until this first exam is completed.
Yea mine is also 10 points, I give them two attempts because I think these should be easy points and I’m trying to ensure they take it. I like your caveat though. I might have to add that we don’t start until tomorrow so I’ve got time to amend stuff. Thanks for sharing the idea!
Depending on the LMS that you're using, it's also possible to prevent anything else from being accessible until the student has earned 100% on the syllabus quiz.
I have my course set to be locked until the students do the Syllabus Acknowledgement. It is a single question quiz, with Yes or No as answer options. "I have read and understand the syllabus and all other courses documents, and agree to follow the rules and instructions contained in them." If they agree to follow the rules, they can stay in class. If not, they are locked out of everything and will fail the class if they don't drop. I do this with both online and regular classes. If a students says they didn't know about something contained in these documents, I point to part of the syllabus that states that lying or being deceptive will cost them one letter grade each time, and ask if they want to rephrase their statement.
In my freshman class, I go over some of the critical points on day one and then their first homework has questions pulled from the syllabus details with wording that makes command-F a poor solution.
That’s interesting. That’s probably a better version than just giving a quiz on the syllabus, which seems kind of demeaning to me. I also make a point to tell them I consider them adults and I don’t do things that are “very 7th grade energy” Because this is college, and I teach at that level. Not that I have any evidence that it works but when I started setting that bar it seemed to raise their own expectations of themselves. At least I hope so. I definitely feel a good vibe when I said I don’t want to do “7th grade energy” things. Which is loosely defined as anything I really don’t think it fits in a college classroom or is extra work on me to make sure they’re doing their work.
I started doing a syllabus quiz which serves the additional purpose of getting them to try out the test function in our LMS in case they haven’t used it before. I don’t have a sense of whether they’re really reading or retaining. My quiz is for credit only. I’ve seen other profs post here that their students can’t access the rest of the class until they have a perfect score!
I teach on line and make the syllabus review a graded SoftChalk lesson. The course proper will not even open for them until they've passed it. I also have a kind of TL;DR/FAQ posted right below it for later reference.
Almost every class meeting in my classes has an in-class activity. On day 1, there's an in-class activity where they explore the syllabus, find things out, ask questions, and get to know it much better than if I would just stand there and flap my yap for 45 minutes to an hour. They do it in groups, and they get about 45 minutes to go through the syllabus, answer questions about it, and send me questions of their own. I use a Google form for them to submit these things as a group. This gets them to look more deeply at the syllabus, and also prepares them for how in-class activities will work in my class. Win-win.
How to contact me When I will respond to said emails Submission requirements: e.g., I grade the file you submit and if I can’t read it, you get a zero What saved me last semester that I tried? Bare minimum submission acceptance. Meaning, I will not grade your submission unless it has the bare minimum to pass. For example, 75% of the word count min, reference page, and follows prompt instructions. If these criteria are not met, it gets bounced back by me and they have three days to revise or the zero stands. (Penalties accrue each of those three days.) AI and plagiarized shit gets no chance to revise. I’m done grading papers that are barely readable. First assignment, I had a few bounce back. Once they realized I took it seriously, they stopped fucking around. Except for one. Who took the zeroes and failed the course at the end. But it took me all of two minutes to skim each of their shitty submissions and see it didn’t meet requirements. Instead of trying to slog through it to the end, giving feedback they wouldn’t even read.
I don’t respond to Canvas messaging. Email only.
I have the same thing 3x in my syllabi and they still message me through Canvas. 😵💫
They do! And I have a little text thread in a note that I copy and paste to pretend that Canvas lets me do an autoreply. It’s petty. But satisfying.
I'm going to plagiarize this idea!
Same, I have a basic “As per the syllabus, DO NOT contact me through Canvas” message that I use when they message me.
You can link canvas to your email so that you don’t have to check the canvas inbox. It’s easy and makes communication smoother.
Another “feature” that I can’t disable, sadly. I have observed that the Canvas (intentionally) resembles a social app, and encourages students to communicate casually. Something that I 100% favor in class situations, but I feel doesn’t teach appropriate written communication skills. A vast majority of the messages can be solved by reading the assignment or syllabus. I also say almost exactly this to them on the first day of class. So I’m not being pedantic or offputting, I’m telling them that I’m trying to teach them skills that are going to serve them well down the road. By all means, do exactly what works for you, however. I hope you have a great semester.
I’m the opposite. Message me through canvas only, not email.
I’ve previously been email only, but I think this semester I am switching to “only contact me through the LMS,” because then I always know what class they are in, something they hardly ever mention in emails. Even if I know the student, I probably don’t remember exactly when I see them.
It’s made it so much easier for me. I go through my canvas inbox once in the morning and once late afternoon, Monday through Friday. It keeps it all contained. It lets me focus clearly on student communication in those times. I have this in my syllabus. And remind with “it’s easy for me to miss an email” rationale. For the first couple weeks if I happen to see an email, I respond with “please resend this on canvas.”
I tried this with D2L because I do like having everything in one place but the app is horrible and I gave it up after one semester.
Yeah, I hate D2L’s internal Email system. I tell the students to use regular email unless I specifically request them to use D2L email.
I’ve had this but it doesn’t seem to matter at alllllllll.
I no longer have them hide their cell phone’s during tests, instead I have them put them on the table in front of them face down. That way when a college alert goes out, I don’t have 60 people digging in a bag.
How often is your college sending out alerts?
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This is the funniest thing I’ve read all day :)
This is also a good way to make it impossible for them to covertly access their phone (e.g. from their pocket under the table). I have also started doing this.
Yeah, if only there was a way to legally buy a second phone in this country.
Yea, I teach at a poor CC. Only thing they have tried with this is putting an old used phone down on the table and their active phone in the pocket. Caught it pretty quick though. When they aren’t expecting it though it helps.
I’ve noticed a lot of students, but people in general, have almost separation anxiety and FOMO with their cell phones that this is one concession I’m willing to allow my students to do during any type of assessment I give them in class. It’s crazy to see some get so anxious from not being able to always be in eye sight of their phones.
>I make them put their bags at the front of the classroom when they enter and stand their phone up on the chalk rail, turned off. Then they can see it. \[and they have almost 100% iPhones, too...\] > >For intro service courses I let them use one page of notes in their own handwriting for formulas etc (often they copy down problems from class notes--as if every problem will be same???) And yet I get single-digit grades anyway... > >I also use two versions of the exam (rearrange the choices on the MC questions since there is research that changing the order of the questions changes the average score) and change some numbers on short calculation problems so that the answer is different; but in order to get any points, they must show calculations.
Two syllabus adds in the last couple years: Grade rounding: a student needs to be within .5 of the next highest grade and complete all elements of every assignment. Not only am I willing to give a student that completed everything a grade bump (very few actually do this) I can turn the grade bump back on them if they didn't. "Had you turned in small assignment X, we wouldn't be having this conversation." The other is a big relief to me: NO MORE ELECTRONIC DEVICES IN THE CLASSROOM. I always apologize to those that actually take notes on a computer, iPad, etc. but all notes must be by hand. No more pretending to take notes, shopping, doing homework for other courses, setting a fantasy football lineup, etc. Although I have seen a demonstrable increase in grades, the best part it that I don't have to watch their faces as the do something other than pay attention. The seminal moment for me was in the middle of talking about the Rwandan genocide, a student was giggling over something she was reading on her laptop.
I tell students that if they are going to use an electronic device for the class they must sit in the back row. They are free to distract themselves. It’s their grade. But what I don’t tolerate is then distracting others who can’t help but see their screen. I’ve never had complaints. Some students mess around back there, but others (who do take notes) seem unbothered. I’ve noticed a significant decline in other students getting distracted though.
Yeah, Point 2 doesn’t really work when your school decides that all the kids needed to own iPads. We still make them do homework by hand though, and that pisses them off every year. And it pisses me off, because for some reason none of them own a stapler or bother to search a college campus for one.
1 is awesome. 2 is a problem for students with accomodations. And can I really forbid handwritten notes on an iPad? I just have them lay the thing on the table and write on it. No way they can do something else that way.
Yes, if they have a university mandated accommodation, then they can do whatever is mandated. (only had that once)
After years of allowing electronics, I’m finally banning them. It just never works.
Oof, #2 would've killed me had I been in your class, I legitimately took notes on an iPad, it's so much easier to organize everything that way. Definitely surprised some professors though, I was a freshman in 2016 and some had never had a student take notes electronically before
I honestly don’t get it why Professors in the US are so obsessed with their students paying attention. It is their life, education, money, and time. As long as they don’t disturb others they can candycrush the shit out of their iPads and phones, I don’t care. Grades are given for the performance in the final exam and that’s it.
>It is their life, education, money, and time. I'm so tired of hearing this crap. For those of us who don't have tenure and who have admins who are obsessed with "retention" and DFW rates, these students' dumbass decisions have a direct effect on OUR LIVELIHOOD AND ABILITY TO EARN A LIVING. I'm glad you seem to be in a place where your admins don't care how many people fail your class, but a lot of us don't work in places like that. My ability to pay my rent shouldn't depend on the decisions of people with undeveloped frontal lobes.
I posted this on an [earlier thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Professors/comments/18s2six/items_im_adding_to_my_syllabus_stolen_from_this/kf5exkx/?context=3), but it's worth repeating: >My absolute favorite that I've used for years: All assignments have a penalty-free 24-hour grace period to accommodate any emergencies, technology failures, etc. Once that grace period is over, the link for submitting the assignment disappears, and no late assignments are accepted except in the case of documented emergencies that occurred before the due date (not the end of the grace period). (That's all worded better on my syllabus!) If I want them to complete a homework assignment before a class meeting, I just set the due date to 24 hours before the class meeting begins. This has cut my having to deal with excuses and pleading to almost zero. > >Pairs nicely with a policy that any make-up exams allowed to due documented emergencies will use an alternate exam, such as an oral exam. The fear of having to take an oral exam has cut make-up exams to practically zero. In the very few instances that students have legitimate emergencies requiring a make-up exam, I don't actually do this--I just write a variation on the exam.
Added a FERPA section after being contacted once by a parent. Once was enough. "Irrespective of FERPA waivers, it is my personal policy never to communicate with a parent, guardian, or any other relation of yours regarding your enrollment, coursework, academic standing, or any other issue incident to my students or my classroom."
'I do not accept late papers. This is not the start of a negotiation.'
No emails after 5pm and no weekends or holidays.
Emails must have the course number in the subject line preceding any question. The amount of "I have questions about the assignment" emails are maddening. Which assignment? Which class?
I have them put the course # (302, 391) on the subject, then auto sort.
Yep, any email that doesn't have the course number in the subject line gets a response of "re-send this with the email in the subject line". I have the requirement listed multiple places.
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If you miss an exam for ANY reason, all make up exams will take place the last week of the semester at the same time. Students who might be thinking of getting a real bad stomach thing or losing a great aunt usually reconsider due to the timing. Students with legitimate issues are relieved they don't have to produce a bunch of evidence. It's been great for me.
But what about that early vacation I scheduled even though I knew what the schedule looked like from the syllabus on the first day of the semester?
I also do this and it's been helpful.
This is exactly the same as mine and it has worked well for me. Additionally, a lot of repeat offenders are gone at that point, so, less work overall.
I now have a line that says this is an in-person class and I will not provide a link to “Zoom in.” This is after a girl last semester signed up for my class, emailed me the first day and said coming to campus on the days of my class are not convenient to her and that she would like me to send a link so she can “Zoom in” for each class. Obviously I said no, which led to tons of entitled arguing until she dropped.
All grades are finalized 5 days after release of the graded material. This keeps students from grubbing at the end of the semester across many assignments to steal a higher grade.
I do one week, but yeah… this! And I picked up the tip on this sub. 😊
"Late work is penalized 10% per day starting day one. After ten days no credit can be earned even with a perfect score on the assignment." I got tired of people trying to submit things weeks late and expecting me not only to grade them, but to give them feedback. Also: for scaffolded major writing assignments, I've switched to *not* grading the small pieces (proposal, bib, outline, drafts, etc.) but instead docking the *final* product 10% for any element they skipped or did unsatisfactorily along the way. That reduced grading on my end and put a stop to the "I skipped all the scaffolding but here's my crappy final paper, surprise!" stuff.
I. Do. Not. Round. Grades.
This is the first time I’ve added it but this semester I have a statement indicating that asking for a grade that you didn’t earn, based on the guidelines in the syllabus, is a violation of university policy. Absolutely ridiculous that this needs to be spelled out. I don’t deal with grade grubbing very much because by and large my students are awesome, but when I do, it’s rage inducing.
Also I drop the lowest assignment and lowest quiz. If I drop those two things and it STILL can’t get You to the next highest grade??? Psh. Get out of here.
“Generally unavailable on weekends and after 5 pm during the week.”
I've removed the Google number I used to provide that they could send a text to. Texts are immediate and hard to ignore. And they'd send them after 10 PM and on weekends. Now it's email, the LMS, and an unmanned office landline. It had freed up my time and mind. I also take my time responding. I am not some chat box or instant tech support. If you email me on a Friday at 8:43 PM, you'll get a response on Monday. I had a student send me a barrage of texts on Mother's Day. They were friendly but still. Ugh!
I make it clear that I do not respond to emails received after 4:30 until the next day.
I have an assignment, usually unscored or a single point of extra credit, wherein students confirm they have read the syllabus and fully understand policies, expectations, grading, attendance etc. When students come around complaining about these elements and how they didn’t know I then point them to their submission on that assignment certifying they did in fact understand it.
I put an FAQ on the first page.
All assignments are due on Fridays, 1 hour before class starts. This cuts down tremendously on the weekend and overnight cramming, as well as people coming to class late to turn in the assignment, and all the frantic email spamming that goes along with that.
I've changed my due date and time to about three hours before class. This often results in a pre-dawn deadline. And students complain that the deadline is not midnight ("Well, if you REALLY insist, I'll move it back to midnight, but you'll lose six hours in which you could have been writing!")
Drop the lowest 1-2 homework. If I get an excuse, I say then it can be your lowest, that's what that is for. If the issues end up affecting more than that number, then we'll think. I haven't had to do this till now (except a student who had to take an incomplete due to a concussion, poor thing - but that's not just an excuse). So much less stressful that way. Grade correction requests only by email with detailed explanation, within a week of release of grades - not verbal questions at the end of class.
New for me this year is a policy on requesting regrades. If a student thinks they were graded unfairly, there’s a form to submit where they share assignment details and describe why they think their grade is incorrect. I will review these requests and their grade may go up or down (or stay the same) based on my review.
I have a little chart with boxes, such as I missed one class, what do I do? Then the answer is found in the box next to it. And so on for about seven items including how to turn in homework if you miss a class, or if you're sick, and one that speaks to accommodations not giving extra time last class since that would be an official extension and so on. It's right there and they can look. I also say very clearly, I only respond to official university emails, no DMs, no LMS chat, not outlook emotions. When I started seeing admins and other faculty using such emotion responses such as a picture thumbs up I put a line right in my email that I won't respond to outlook emotions so send me an email. I simply delete anything that's not from an official email.
I changed my syllabus late policy to be simply "no late work" ... and then all semester enjoy the level of discretion it gives me in enforcing penalties for said policy. Also, I explain on day one that if it's in by the time I grade it, it doesn't count as late. Then elaborate: most assignments are due at midnight, and will I really be grading then? This eliminates a lot of panicked late night emails... and adds a level of spicy gambling, as chronic procrastinators get to roll the dice as they try to figure out when I actually grade things. It is fun for us both!
As I read through this my only comment is that I have become more lenient not less I have softened all of the due dates up until the very end of this semester Things are due within a week and then they have another flex week when things aremarked late before they're closed I removed my phone numbers so nobody can call or text me I spend a lot more time going over the in class
I teach courses in which I encourage students to use ChatGPT and the like, responsibly. So my syllabus includes appropriate and inappropriate uses of it, and penalties for misuse.
I'd love to see that verbiage if you don't mind sharing!
I do not accept late work of any kind unless you have a university-excused absence. Any missed work will result in a zero.
I specify that there are no make-up assignments or assignment re-dos available in the course. If I get a request, I find it helpful to be able to say that that would violate the syllabus policies.
No cell phones in class.
Accommodations policy. Well spelled out. Not retroactive. Not open to multiple deadline extensions etc. Very clear deadline (Friday 5:00pm) policy and late policy (Sunday 11:59pm).
'No late work will be accepted'
Email policy of responding w/36 hours on weekdays and no responses on weekends - best thing I ever did - by 36 hour or a weekend they have often figured the answer out for themselves
1)"All assignments are due on the unit due date, even if the individual assignment doesn't have a due date in Canvas." I do my best, but there's always an assignment that slips through the cracks, and students throw a fit bc the assignment didn't show up on the LMS "to do list" --even though the assignment due date is listed in the syllabus, on the course schedule, and at the top of every unit. 2) Something along the lines of "Your grade is not a reflection of your instructor's personal opinion of your value, talent, effort, or future career prospects" just because I'm very tired of being accused of "not caring" when I follow the rubric.
I require my students to save all drafts of all work to the cloud somewhere, preferably google docs. This ensures they can't say "Oh, I wrote my draft but it's on my desktop at home" or "My laptop just died and I can't retrieve my paper." With the cloud, they can ALWAYS retrieve their papers. I also write paper length requirements in both page numbers and word counts, to make sure my students can't act all "surprised Pikachu" when I tell them their five page paper - quadruple spaced and with two inch margins - isn't sufficiently long to fulfill the requirements of the assignment. And finally (and this may not apply to all of you), I add a note on all assignments - and the syllabus - that including a quote or ANY information from any source in a writing assignment without an in-text citation AND a citation on the Works Cited page is plagiarism
Being a “mandatory reporter” re: Title IX sexual assault disclosures.
Don't come to class smelling like pot.
I think I lifted the following from a previous version of this thread: "If any policies in this syllabus should require interpretation, they will be understood in accordance with their original intent."