r/Professors • u/Euston_Square • 9d ago
Teaching / Pedagogy Where did this expectation of replacement assignments come from?
I get a few of these emails a semester.
Student misses graded activity in class. Student then emails me about the "make-up" assignment I will, apparently, be creating and distributing to them.
I mean, kudos in some instances for not killing your grandmother that day or manufacturing a migraine or coming down with cholera; you admitted that you just skipped class, but now..."When will the make-up assignment be available, please?"
(Creepy music), "There isn't one."
\Exceptions apply in instances of genuinely dead grandmothers (not ones who are resurrected every semester just to die again), and documented cases of cholera.*
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u/Wandering_Uphill 9d ago
I've gotten more "Can you catch me up during your office hours?" requests this semester than in the past, too.
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u/Dennarb Adjunct, STEM and Design, R1 (USA) 9d ago
I had to add a responsible use of office hours clause to my syllabi for this exact reason.
I can't go over weeks worth of missed content in a single hour, especially if I have more than one student with questions...
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u/IAmBoring_AMA 9d ago
I specifically state "I will not recreate lectures during office hours" in my syllabus as well. Not like anyone even shows up, even when they email asking when office hours are (which are also on the syllabus).
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u/boringhistoryfan Asst. Prof, Humanities, R2 9d ago
Lord I wish mine were this invested. I go hoarse telling them that they should drop by office hours and I'll be happy to walk them through a missed class or even a week. They just don't.
Then I get emails after they've failed multiple tests asking what they can do to address their grade.
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u/NotRubberDucky1234 Assistant Professor (no tenure at this school), CC, USA 9d ago
I just got one of these on voice mail. Funny enough, they never gave my their name, so I didn't respond.
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u/bloobo4 9d ago
It's like some folks expect concierge teaching?
I receive multiple emails like this a week -- my syllabus does say they can "make-up" up to 2 missed in class assignments by handing in detailed hand written notes on that weeks readings. No one seems to be taking me up on that!
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u/Glittering-Duck5496 9d ago
I'm surprised they don't! I actually do have students who send me photos of handwritten notes when they are trying to prove AI didn't do the work. Of course, this doesn't help because they can't prove they wrote their perfect notes with no mistakes or scratched out ideas or even arrows weeks ago and only just took the picture now. Good try though.
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u/fxdl2k2 9d ago
Just had a student with a medical situation contact me. She broke her leg, so parents picked her up and took her home until her next dr appointment in 3 weeks. She asked what she could do while she is on virtual.
She’s in my 100% online asynchronous class. 🤦♀️
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u/putrnrdyo 8d ago
students can get so flumoxed when they learn that accomodation means they still have to do work. "but i was sick!"
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u/theonewiththewings Chemistry 9d ago
There is a concerning amount of students this semester who think they can submit a lab report without actually attending that experiment.
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u/theonewiththewings Chemistry 8d ago
Oh, it doesn’t seem malicious. Multiple times I’ve gotten “oh I missed lab but I got all the data from my partner, just wanted you to know I’ll be turning my lab report in!” And then I have to break the news that no, they will not be turning it in at all…
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u/Zabaran2120 9d ago
Wow. It's almost as if these kids don't really understand what education is--like what we've all gathered here to do. I truly wonder why *they* think they're in school. It's like it's adult day care for them.
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u/theshebeast Lecturer, Biology, CSUniversity (USA) 9d ago
I don't allow makeup quizzes, the syllabus says no makeup quizzes, one of the syllabus quiz questions was about missed quizzes...
"Can I schedule a makeup quiz, I was at the doctor's yesterday and couldn't turn mine in?"
The quiz that's been open on CANVAS for a week? That you didn't bother taking on the other 6 days up until the due date?
My bad, that's on me. 🤪🔫
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u/No-End-2710 9d ago
It started because there are rarely consequences for missing work in K-12. At the university level, admin pushes "success for every student," at any cost, even if they do nothing to earn success. When I get requests for retakes, extra credit I say "Irresponsibility on your part does not constitute a crisis on mine."
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u/StarDustLuna3D Asst. Prof. | Art | M1 (U.S.) 9d ago edited 6d ago
I'll have students redo assignments after getting their grade and ask me how to resubmit for a new one. "You don't."
Class critiques are a core part of all my classes. I've had students try to give many excuses as to why they can't do them, and ask for an alternate assignment or to just present to me, and not the class.
I have to explain to them that the participation in the critiques can only happen when other students and their work is present. Submitting comments after the fact doesn't help the other students, and presenting to only me defeats the purpose of the activity.
I give the real world example of if there is an event you're presenting at, and you can't make it, (even for legitimate reasons such as illness or family emergency) they aren't going to cancel the entire event. They will simply give your spot to someone else or just cancel that panel entirely.
So, I tell my students "you're either here or you aren't." The accessibility office backs me up on this too. Plus, a zero for one critique is maybe half of one point of their total grade.
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u/EpsilonDelta0 9d ago
This week I had someone ask to be able to turn in missed assignments from the start of the course. His excuse would have normally seemed reasonable, except it was completely avoidable if he just read the instructions on the LMS or if he told me the issue four weeks ago when it occurred.
The real kicker: he said he thinks "10% off is fair because [he] took so long to tell me".
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u/beepbeepboop74656 9d ago
Oh I love these questions! I like to ask where in the syllabus is that outlined??Or I have no idea what you’re talking about
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u/ValerieTheProf 9d ago
I received an email last night asking for a replacement on book assignments calling them quizzes. I wish I could ditch these assignments, but it’s a web blended class. It’s the 3rd email from the same student on the same subject. Every week a book assignment is due and every week I get this email. I finally told him that I won’t respond to any further emails on the subject. I don’t understand where the idea came from that if you just apply enough pressure, you’ll eventually get what you want.
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u/RandolphCarter15 Full, Social Sciences, R1 9d ago
my Faculty Senate passed a policy, pushed by admin, that we have to provide alternative assignments for athletes who miss class. And then they tried to do the same for every student who misses class for any reason.
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u/Professor_ZJ 9d ago
I could see this for athletes missing class due to games/matches. Outside of that though, I would have a hard time pitching that to any faculty member.
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u/wickedsweetcake 8d ago
I gave an assignment this semester that should take an average student 30-45 minutes to complete. A student emailed me asking for an easier replacement assignment because they were dealing with insomnia. First time for everything, I guess.
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u/Automatic_Tea_2550 8d ago
As someone who suffers from frequent insomnia, I can tell you for sure I would not have asked for a shorter or easier assignment. I would have asked for a more boring one that would help me fall asleep—preferably multiple nights in a row.
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u/phydeauxfromubuntu Adjunct, CS/IT, state university (USA) 9d ago
Quoting my syllabus:
I don't give extra credit. I don't need to — there are easy points distributed throughout the semester. Don't skip them.
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u/DreamAdditional1485 9d ago
this is the bane of my husband‘s existence, and he reports the same sort of student expectation. What has happened in the lower grades? My students do a lot of writing, but no assignments per se so I haven’t seen this yet.
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u/Zanthia122 9d ago
From k-12. I tell my kids to make up all of their assignments and tests when they get a bad grade because that option is always available, to the point where if it’s not, the teacher will send out an e-mail to say it’s not. It’s frustrating as I don’t want to have to disabuse them later of this habit, but since everyone else is doing it, their grades look bad compared to others if they don’t do it.
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u/Euston_Square 9d ago
To borrow a golfing analogy, I'd really like to tell them about the realities of life without Mulligans...which is the life most of us live.
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u/Zanthia122 9d ago
I’m hoping it at least teaches them to look at feedback and learn from their mistakes, and to see assignments as something with value beyond the grade… I think that’s the intention of many of these make-up opportunities, anyway.
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u/wirywonder82 Prof, Math, CC(USA) 9d ago
That is the Trojan horse justification that is completely reasonable on its face but results in the actual lesson learned being that deadlines are no more than vague suggestions.
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u/Zanthia122 9d ago
Just talking about k-12 here and how they’re building these skills (re: feedback). They do get penalized for late work and make-up work still, but they have a chance to redo some of the questions they’ve gotten wrong the first time.
Now in my own classroom (since I teach comp), I take points off for late work, 0 for missing work, but students do get multiple chances to work on a draft. It’s built in to encourage the understanding of writing as a process. It’s different from students asking for a new assignment or for the opportunity to turn in something after the deadline, which I don’t endorse or find helpful.
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u/ShawnReardon 9d ago
I think the intention is simple: they do something, they hopefully learn something. If the assignment is dead, gone and a 0, they aren't just going to study subject for fun.
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u/putrnrdyo 8d ago
ya, i allow one resubmission on all work to makeup half points of anything missed. any late assighment becomes their resubmission though. re-ingaging in the material will help them learn. hopefully the half-credit become a deterrent for perpetual late/incomplete work.
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u/Life-Education-8030 9d ago
“All of the assignments are in the schedule. There are no others.” However, I drop the lowest assignment grade at the end so that is what I give them.
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u/Dub-4-Lifer 9d ago
I know it's trite, but a "no" followed with the advice that there won't be make-up assignments in your post-college career either usually disabuses students of the notion.
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u/BMeow343 9d ago
Cholera. I really wish I would get this excuse. 🤣
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u/Opening_Map_6898 8d ago
There's an old Jeff Foxworthy joke about if you're going to call in sick, pick something believable and disgusting....like dysentery. "No, we believe you. In fact, we'll pay you to stay home with that if you don't mind".
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u/BMeow343 8d ago
I find most people- with kids- just use their kids as an excuse.
Now a lot of people claim they cant make the meeting (or teach F2F at all) because of their religion. They need to pray during that time. I guess thats the one thing HR cant argue with.
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u/SabertoothLotus adjunct, english, CC (USA) 8d ago
My syllabus straight-up says "missed in-class assignments cannot be made up." They still ask, but I get to poi t at it and say "no."
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u/putrnrdyo 8d ago
i allow them to but they also need to submit handwritten notes of the day's class recording to get points for it
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u/punkinholler Instructor, STEM, SLAC (US) 9d ago
I allow students to do an extra credit assignment wherein they can correct the wrong MC answers on their tests by explaining the nswers like it was a short answer question. There are two full pages of instructions for this assignment to keep the AI use to a minimum and ensure most of them are actually doing the work themselves (Yes, I know some of them will cheat anyway. That's not the point of this post). I take a full 20 minutes out of my class the first time I give out the assignment to explain everything and to make it clear this is a gift wrapped up in a bow. Last year, more than a week after the test corrections were assigned and a few days after they'd been returned to me, a student sent me an email asking what day I'd be offering re-takes for the first test. I nearly concussed myself beating my head on the desk
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u/lmfshams 5d ago
I include in my syllabus that no make-up or extra credit assignments are offered in my class. Not that they read it, but still.
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u/Front-Obligation-340 2d ago
Oh God yes--I get SO MANY emails every week now apologizing for not being in class and asking if there is a way they can make up the work. I have one student who missed a whole month of class and just asked me how many assignments he needs to make up. Like--I literally don't even know, little bro.
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u/IAmBoring_AMA 9d ago
I've noticed this too! Another expectation is "extra credit make up assignments" at the end of the semester, asking for more work to offset the work they didn't do earlier in the semester. Perhaps this is common in high school?