I’m really struggling with technology tonight, so hopefully people are able to see this. Nothing seems to be working right, but I’m powering through.

The only classes I’ve ever taught at PSU (with some minor exceptions) are First-Year Composition and Creating Arguments. I still teach Creating Arguments, although it’s now entirely online asynchronous when it used to be entirely in-person. I think this course is a good mix of rigid and flexible. The modules are structured in a repetitive manner so students always know what to expect and so that the knowledge and skills build upon each other with each module. But it’s flexible because the topic and medium of each assignment is entirely up to the student, so there is a lot of voice and choice. Students also see the due dates and assignments well in advance so they can plan out when they will complete each task. I feel like this is super important in an online asynchronous class. Students often choose that modality because of a very full class schedule, work schedule, internship schedule, family challenges, or even time zone differences, so it’s crucial that they are aware of assignments well in advance and that they can plan around their individual schedules and still engage in the course.

The most rigid part for me is that I’m a bit hard on deadlines. If a student contacts me before a due date and requests an extension, I’m happy to negotiate a new due date with them. I feel the same for students who were not able to contact me before the deadline because of a major illness or other emergency (I have a student this fall who was hospitalized and needed to reschedule a series of assignments). But I really struggle with students who just “forgot” about an assignment and email me the link to their paper without even requesting an extension. It seems disrespectful to me and their classmates who did complete the work on time and who were waiting for their classmates to complete peer review. It’s also hard on me because I am a teaching lecturer and it’s hard to adjust my grading schedule when students turn in assignments at times that I don’t expect.

So that is my one big sticking point. I’m not sure if it’s the right thing to do or if I’m being too “old school” about due dates. Maybe that’s a place for me to grow.