Deadlines (and Their Disregard) in Academia

There is a great post today on Inside Higher Ed on the importance, and more than occasional disregard, of deadlines in higher ed.  The author describes different types of deadlines, from the hard deadlines for tenure and promotion, to the less firm deadlines like textbook submission dates, to the almost illusory self-imposed deadlines for our own research and return of student asignments.  Two of the author's observations particularly resonated with me.  First, as an administrator, I see the costs of missed deadlines that are often invisible to students, faculty, and others.  Second, I found myself nodding as I read the following account of faculty feedback on student writing assignments:

Deadlines matter in our interactions with students as well. My feeling is that if I am going to hold students strictly accountable to a deadline, then I too need to be accountable in similar ways. When I give my students writing assignments, each assignment is accompanied by a specifically articulated series of deadlines for when drafts and peer reviews are due, a deadline for each stage of the writing process, each of which students are expected to meet.  But my assignments also include deadlines for myself, essentially promises of when I will return things like graded papers. Holding students strictly to deadlines, but then failing to return work in a timely manner, sends a message of hypocrisy to students that they immediately detect and disdain. I hold myself as accountable to self-imposed deadlines, just as I hold my students accountable. By advertising my own deadlines for tasks like grading, in this case on the writing assignment itself, I create a mechanism that forces me to be accountable.

I follow the author's practice of announcing a self-imposed deadline for returning student assignments, and I find that the deadline both focuses and disciplnes my work.  If I miss the deadline, I then owe students an explanation that I would find worthy for excusing late submission of their part.  Not only does this respect their efforts, but I hope it models behavior that will be expected post-graduation.  How many faculty do something similar?

Comments

[Anon]

Honestly, I had never thought to announce a self-imposed deadline for returning assignments. It sounds like a good idea to me.

There might be a benefit in addition to the ones you mention. I have found that students (particularly 1st year students) often have unrealistic expectations about when essay exams can be returned. If you announce that the mid-term essay exams will be returned in 2 1/2 weeks, then the students will presumably spend less time wondering if today will be the day that they get their exam back.

[Paul McGreal]

Great point Anon. I have found that announcing a deadline for returning assignments sets student expectations, which reduces hand-wringing over when an assignment will be returned.

[Gregory Duhl]

Paul,

I agree with you. I give students deadlines for when I will return quizzes and written assignments. I also let them know by when I will submit final grades to the Registrar. It discplines me. Students also note on course evaluations that they are more motivated to meet my expectations when I set high expectations for myself.

Anon is right too. I have never had a student ask me when he or she will get an assignment returned. I usually finish them early, and the students are pleasantly surprised.

Greg

[Matthew Bruckner]

In practice, we often set benchmarks for delivering work product. It was expected that I would either hit our agreed-upon deadline or give advance warning that the deadline was no longer achievable (because, for example, another partner had tasked me with a more urgent assignment). Has anyone played around with similarly flexible deadline setting for student work? Or is the assumption that students have no urgent assignments like they do in practice and that any missed deadlines are simply a result of poor planning?

[MLS]

While it certainly makes sense to return student assignments in a timely fashion (and many law professors take an unconsionably long time to grade exams), deadlines for students serve very different purposes. One is sheer equity, which is one reason Professors should be reluctant to extend deadlines on a whim. But another reason is because the practice of law is deadline driven, and students who are unable to meet deadlines are likely to have trouble in legal practice.

[Miriam Cherry]

I try to get written assignments (like essays in a seminar class) back very quickly - like the next class meeting or the the next week. Students are usually pleasantly surprised. This unfortunately is not the case with exams - when you have 80+ it's very hard - so I use all the time that I have and turn them in on the deadline provided by the administration.