Thursday, March 25, 2010

Do you allow papers to be resubmitted *after* you have graded them?

Has this ever happened to you?

I have several essay papers due in my Political Science class. I always thought my instructions were clear for the students.

Recently, a student submitted a paper. He did not follow any of my instructions and his essay was poorly written. He ended up with a grade of 12 out of 40.

Then I receive the following e-mail from him. BTW, I’m not editing it: will you please grade this essay again i redid it so please grade it and put as my grade for unit 2 c.7 thanks please grade asap and put it on my grades thanks once again

I assumed students understood that once assignments are submitted for a grade-that’s it. However, I checked my Syllabus and I have not mentioned that once a paper has been submitted for a grade, a student cannot redo it and then resubmit it so it can be graded again.

How would you handle this?

Here’s what I did. I sent an e-mail back to the student letting him know I do not accept essays after I have graded the paper. However, I believe he has a case of Why not since I have not mentioned this anywhere in my Syllabus or essay instructions? So, I’ll be fine-tuning my Syllabus for our Summer session.

Finally, if you have any wording addressing this in your Syllabus, please share with the rest of us. Thanks!

1 comment:

  1. Hi Al,
    I find that every semester some new situation pops up that will cause me to fine tune course directions for something...somewhere, somehow.
    Every semester is a new experience that can challenge the wording of Course Information documents.
    Thanks for sharing. It is good to know that other Instructors need to edit Syllabus pages too.
    Lorrie

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