Deadlines for in-class activities need not be dreadful
Deadlines. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them… but okay, how do you live with them?
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“ … is due in 1 day.”
Unpleasant, isn’t it? Be it a credit card bill, a work project, or a college assignment — these words have never incited a positive emotion.
If one were to look for commonalities in what stresses us out the most across all professions and stages of life, a major one would be the constraints of time, i.e. deadlines — and the constant reminders of it.
None of us like to be at the receiving end of it when we’re the ones doing work. But all of us have to be at the establishing end of it when it comes to work that needs to be done. For a deadline to be of value; from both these perspectives, it is essential for the doer and the checker to understand what outcome they hold in higher regard.
Prof. Ashley Whillans, in her article, talks about how research has shown that people tend to optimise for metrics that are easily quantified, such as completion time, rather than more qualitative (yet often more relevant) measures of performance, such as how well-written or insightful the final product is.
On Acadly, instructors can set deadlines for in-class activities, but there’s more to it than establishing a cut-off time. Some of the options that can be toggled on/off include:
- Allow late submissions
- Withhold results till deadline
- Time-based deadline vs. a “manual stop” option which allows instructors to end the activity whenever at the tap of a button
But when should you turn one of these on / off? We dig deep into the reasons for some deadline-related decisions you need to take for in-class activities in this week’s infographic.
Deadlines have several purposes, even if they may be unpleasant
Deadlines have always been widely implemented in higher education. They serve as motivators, grading schemes, classroom managers, compliance enforcers, and convenience factors. However, several traditional notions about deadlines are being challenges by emerging research.
Hard deadlines may not promote a professional awareness of business hours or reasonable working conditions. Furthermore, they can be guilty of not taking differences in student abilities into account, which can exacerbate inequity in the classroom.
Befriend, don’t battle.
For professors in higher-ed, deadlines are necessary to have a predictable schedule for course prep and grading. A complete upheaval in the name of academic freedom is likely to cause chaos and indiscipline, however, a steady reformation could be welcome for both professors and students.
Choosing the “right” deadline
In the drudgery of academic work, we often forget the why of a deadline. Having a clear rationale behind the deadline is not only important for a professor but also important for the learners, in order to respect the deadline and truly bring forward quality work within the time granted.
For example, a pre-class work could have a mandatory deadline 1 hour prior to the lecture, because the pre-work is essential in order to understand what’s going to be taught in the lecture. Similarly, an end-of-term assignment could come with a deadline of T minus 10 days (T here being the last day of the term), so that the professor has enough time to ask a learner to revise their work in order to improve their grade.
Clearly communicating the rationale is imperative to help students see the deadlines as progressive and necessary. A few different types of deadlines one could explore:
Suggested deadlines
Instead of a traditional fixed deadline, the professor recommends a timeframe or a date as a “suggestion”, so that the learners know when submissions are expected. Best for semester-end assignments, research work and projects.
Fragmented/quota deadlines
For long-term projects which require continuous, comprehensive evaluation, this is a great way to ensure that learners send in their WIP regularly and don’t worry about completing it all in one go.
Self-set deadlines
A great choice for inducing self-discipline and accountability in students — to let them set their own deadlines. Abiding by rules that we’ve made for ourselves is not only humbling but also helps students see the system from the instructors’ point-of-view.
Timer deadlines
Suitable for short, in-class assignments/quizzes/polls to do a quick comprehension check before proceeding with the lecture.
Accounting for the student’s mindset
Setting deadlines that are months away might not turn out to be as relaxing as they seem. That tendency to procrastinate until the deadline appears dangerously close? It’s called the Parkinson’s Law, which states that work expands to fill the time available to complete it. The more time we have, the longer we take to complete the task.
This doesn’t necessarily tell us that shorter deadlines are better. Meng Zhu conducted a study for her article in The Journal of Consumer Research, where college students were offered three Hershey’s Kisses to complete an assignment with a quick deadline, or five Hershey’s Kisses to complete a similar assignment with a longer deadline. More students were willing to give up a high-value prize; merely when the low-payoff assignment had the false illusion of expiration.
Meng Zhu calls it the Mere Urgency effect, concluding that when faced with multiple deadlines for tasks of varying importance, students are likely to pursue less-important assignments with shorter deadlines than more-important assignments with longer deadlines.
The ideal approach to setting deadlines would be to tailor the learning outcomes we hope to achieve from them. Students should know that their time is valued and respected, and that the rationale behind deadlines is to map out a comprehensive learning curve for them — and not to burn the midnight oil without reason.
Furthermore, it is imperative that professors be mindful of inclusivity when it comes to setting deadlines. Some students might not have access to the same resources or the same physical/mental abilities as their peers. Professors who keep inclusivity as a parameter while setting deadlines are bound to come out with happier learner population.
Responding to extension requests
While asking for extensions to deadlines has always been an intimidating proposition, the power of helping students overcome the fear of judgement lies with the professor. Extensions requests, when genuine, can not only help put the student’s mind at ease but will mostly result in the student producing better work than what they would have if they’d rushed to finish within the original deadline. A few ways of extending deadlines without hampering a professor’s schedule and work-life balance might be:
Incentivising being on-time
Instead of penalising someone for asking for extensions, a professor might try incentivising the ones who ensure that work is submitted by the original deadline.
Putting a price to extensions
Help the students understand that things come at a cost. An extension might come with a minor deduction in their course credits, or extra 2 questions that they’d need to attempt.
Making them do the math
Make the students budget their extra time. Allow a limited extension time, e.g. 2 days — but spread across all assignments. The students get to decide which assignments they want extensions for — but they can only get a maximum extension of 2 days in cumulation. Help them prioritise their requirement and be accountable.
Dealing with tardiness
Despite instructors’ best efforts, some students will show up late — be it for the lecture itself or for submission deadlines. Professors today have to stay mindful and think on their feet with regards to lateness and its authenticity.
Allow room for extensions
Help students ask for extensions when they’re running late for a submission. According to the situation, they can be encouraged to work for longer to get better quality work done, or penalised mildly for the extension to help them improve their speed for the next time.
Employ formative grading through the term
A popular way of dealing with late submissions is ensuring there is enough data around formative assessments of the students — i.e., their class attendance, participation, performance and peer interaction. Rewarding consistency in effort and comprehension can contribute to a grade at the end of the term, even if summative assessments aren’t on time.
Allow WIP submissions
Let students share what they’ve worked on so far, even if they haven’t completed the whole assignment. This helps them get value for work done and perhaps even get a prorated grade on their WIP submission.
Waive off work when needed
For dire situations and emergencies, waiving off the mandate for a submission might be the best way out for both the professor and the student. Instead, grading them on their classroom participation and performance can be a way of ensuring they’re getting rewarded for their hard work and consistency.
In conclusion, deadlines are here to stay but there is merit to consider changes to the traditional “hard” deadline. When it comes to deadlines for in-class activities, we’ve tried to do our bit to make them fun for students!
You can set up your Acadly account here. Happy teaching 🙂
