Culture Check: Course Work Extensions

It is the end of January, and I am beginning to hear around me the muffled groans of faculty colleagues as the Fall 2013 “extensions” roll in.

I don’t know whether they are called “extensions” everywhere, but we all know what we’re talking about, right? This is when a student is granted permission to complete some of their course requirements during the weeks or months after the course is over. At my institution, the student contracts with the instructor and the registrar, agreeing on what work remains, and what grade will result if the work is not done. But even if we all know what “extensions” are, that does not mean that everyone agrees on how to administer them, or that every school has the same perspective on them. How is the practice of granting extensions assessed in the ecosystem of your institution? What is your own thinking on extensions?

At my own institution, many instructors are happy to grant a good number of extensions…more willing than I am. This doesn’t mean that I’m right and they’re wrong. In recent semesters, I have a lot of nascent ideas unfolding about giving learners more autonomy to take risks, make mistakes, even shape their course work and craft their own expectations. My long-term career arc seems to be from the determinative rule of the benign monarch to the more exploratory oversight of the trail guide or retreat host. Nonetheless, I still find myself crying, “We will have order!” on the topic of course work extensions…probably for the most selfish of reasons (I say with a smile, basking in the unclouded sunlight of an extensions-free January).

I have organized a lot of my course furniture around a commitment to reduce the number of extensions I grant. My syllabus encourages students to plan their projects such that minor emergencies (a crashed computer, the flu, kids home for “snow days”, locusts, mildew) don’t interfere with accomplishing their work on deadline. “Nobody ever got a reduction in grade for submitting a semester paper a week early, or a weekly assignment a day early.”

As to real emergencies and tragedies, it’s hard for me to imagine one that affects only my class. For that reason, I only grant extensions to students who have declared their emergency to the office of the Dean of Students. It’s not just about sifting the genuine emergencies from the lack-of-planning emergencies, it’s about protecting the student: someone who has suffered, say, the loss of a family member should _not_ be running around, contacting each of her 4-5 instructors, trying to negotiate terms. I would rather she make one (1) phone call or email to the Dean of Students, who can then communicate with her instructors to find out what assignments the student is likely to miss, and about the kinds of accommodation that might fit the case. Instead of “one emergency, five plans,” the goal should be “one emergency, one plan.”

Culturally, though, this can be a hard sell. My own institution places a high value on an instructor’s autonomy, and I am the first to acknowledge how much that matters to me. Faculty members are trusted to deal fairly with students in trouble, and I actually think that trust is justified by the track record. And, some students might feel that they have compelling reasons to work out their negotiations “under the radar” of the Dean’s office. Still, I’m wary of a culture that multiplies extensions. The burden falls on the Registrar’s office to keep the record straight; students with multiple trailing extensions (or extensions completed but not yet graded by a harried faculty) may show a misleading GPA, hindering institutional recognition of a student at risk of failing out;  extensions vie for the instructor’s attentions with the work of a new semester. The “roominess” of a tolerant approach to extensions creates room for confusion as much as for creative, individual, pastoral response to student need.

What do you think? Does my harder-edged perspective simply reflect the well-honed paternalism of my own, traditional, higher-ed upbringing? Will my “extensions” policy relax as my thinking about post-semester work falls into line with my experiments in student-created learning goals, student-chosen projects & performances, self-assessments, and contract grading? For now, I respond to that question with a loud “I hope not!”, as I bask in the sunshine of an extension-free January, plugging my ears against the muffled groans of my extension-besieged friends.

What is your school’s culture on “extensions,” and how does it fit into the larger institutional ecosystem? What are your own practices regarding extensions, and why?

(This post’s featured image, “The Start and Finish Line of the ‘Inishowen 100’ scenic Drive,” is by Andrew Hurley, with some rights reserved.)

Add to favorites