Scholarly Life of a Committed Technofile

The problem: Community college students are over committed (as are their teachers . And when life throws them a loop, they don’t have a lot of extra time or energy to resolve the issue. Last semester I had a student in my face-to-face introduction to cinema class that got a promotion. However, it meant she had to now work the nights we had class. Because I already had an online component for the course, we were able to adapt the online element so that she could finish the course. And, regularly, students have other work or family issues that arise; and, if they just had a week or so to deal with the problem, they might be able to stay with the course.

Another problem: I’ve accepted that I have students test run new technologies in my classes; however, this sometimes mean they need a little more time and energy to learn the technology. And then, sometimes, the technology itself is a little cranky (beta testing, server switching, etc.).

A possible solution?: I decided to try to incorporate a “flexible deadline” policy for my students this semester. I basically said that all deadlines are “flexible” unless they have a “not accepted late” next to them. I only made assignments that require student feedback (ie, drafts and peer reviews of major writing assignments) “not accepted late.” This leaves all of the “homework” of the course, and the final submission of major writing assignments, due “whenever.” There is a “no late work accepted after this date” in the second to the last week of the semester. I do list weekly deadlines as the suggested work pace for the courses.

This leaves students the time to learn technologies, have technology glitches, and have “life-happenings” emerge. We’ll see how this experiment works this semester…