Deadline Flexibility
After gauging your students' needs, examine your current and upcoming course assignments and assessments.
For content that builds upon itself, having flexible deadlines can be trickier. If, to meet learning goals, you cannot go beyond a week or so of extension time, be sure to communicate why with your students. (And be prepared to deal with special cases where greater flexibility is still needed.)
Some tips to assist with deadline flexibility:
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Automatically reset deadlines.
Depending on the emergency and its extent, automatically reset deadlines for the next few weeks back by approximately 1-2 weeks (perhaps longer out, if the emergency or disruptions remain unresolved). -
Include grace periods.
For each adjusted deadline, include a grace period after the deadline (e.g, an extra 1-2 days), when late work will continue to be accepted without penalty.
While this may sound like the "actual due date" (and it is), framing it as the grace period encourages most students to aim for the announced deadline. However, those needing an extra day or so can get it without stress.
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For remaining deadlines, permit students to request extensions.
As a part of their request for an extension, have students tell you when the new deadline should be. You can set some parameters on this, such as "up to 2 weeks past the new deadline."
Consider using a Microsoft/Google Form for students to make this request, which helps you keep everything in one place. (Under Settings for the form, check the box that notifies you when a form has been submitted.)
Having students go through a request process can eliminate many capricious requests.
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Limit extension request opportunities.
With exceptions for particularly hard-hit students, who may need some individualized plans, consider offering all other students a limited number of opportunities (e.g., 2) for extension requests for the remainder of the semester. This helps cap the number of late-incoming assignments you have to keep up with.
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Check in with students.
Every few weeks, check in with your students to see if your deadline adjustments are working or if they have further suggestions. You do not have to take their suggestions - but sometimes they have good ones! If you cannot adjust to their requests, be transparent and clear about why.