"But I handed this assignment in!"

[reinhard]

Have you had one of these students who claims to have handed it in an assignment, when clearly they didn't or when they missed a presentation when they clearly didn't??

 

How do you handle these students? In the past when I first started out, I was naive and I let them redo it. But I don't think I should anymore...

 

I tried the "let the prof handle it" part, but I know some profs don't even answer emails. What are your thoughts?

Edited May 31, 2014 by reinhard

[Gvh]

Haha yup; I had a student who insisted she had handed in papers (via email). So I asked her to send me screenshots of her sent emails with the timestamps...

 

I never got any screenshots. 

Edited May 31, 2014 by Gvh

[nugget]

Here are a few ideas I've brainstormed, but never tried myself.

 

-If the class size is manageable, have them sign their name on a sheet when they submit their assignment. (So basically they would stand in line, submit the assignment and sign off on it).

 

-Ask them to email it and grade and return the assignments electronically. 

 

-If you prefer a hard copy, ask them to submit a hard copy and submit it electronically as a backup. Tell the class that if their hard copy goes missing, the email version will be printed off and graded instead. 

 

-Count the number of assignments you receive and write it down. Put all the assignments into a brief case or other secure bag. Whenever you take anything out of it, always work at an empty desk with no papers on it, keep all the assignments together at all times and put them back into the brief case when you are done. If a student tells you their assignment is missing, tell them with absolute certainty that you did not receive the assignment (you can also tell them that you counted the number of assignments that were submitted) and there is nothing you can do about it. 

 

Personally, I prefer option 3. It's seems the easiest and most effective to implement, imo. 

[reinhard]

presentation when they clearly didn't??

 

I meant to say "clearly did". Can't edit my post for some reason.

[harrisonfjord]

I handle it the exact same way that Gvh does. If a student can send me a screenshot or forward me an original email that shows they submitted the assignment, then I am more than happy to accommodate that. However, as stated above, generally some of these students you will never hear from again because they didn't submit it in the first place.

 

I've also had the corrupted file problem before too: a student sends a purposely corrupted file so that they have more time to do the assignment. The idea is that by the time you get to their assignment, they have had several extra days to do the work and when you contact them to tell them to re-send the file, it's finished by then. In those situations it can sometimes be hard to prove whether or not the student is cheating so I make sure to tell them that I'm not responsible for technical failures. If it only happens once I am ok with giving them the benefit of the doubt. If it happens continuously, then obviously this student is trending.

 

I take notes on presentations. I make a master list of students and assign them an order in which to present. I note who is there and I have each student turn in a participation sheet on the day of the presentation that lists every group member, that indicates which group members are presenting (in this case the presentations were extra credit) and they each grade their group member on how much they contributed to the project using letter grades. This helps me because I have physical proof when I compare the group sheets to my notes to show the professor that the student did not present. In my experience redundancy reduces error.

 

Hope some of this helps! I'm a new TA so I'm still learning.

Edited May 31, 2014 by harrisonfjord

[TakeruK]

Here are a few ideas I've brainstormed, but never tried myself.

 

-Count the number of assignments you receive and write it down. Put all the assignments into a brief case or other secure bag. Whenever you take anything out of it, always work at an empty desk with no papers on it, keep all the assignments together at all times and put them back into the brief case when you are done. If a student tells you their assignment is missing, tell them with absolute certainty that you did not receive the assignment (you can also tell them that you counted the number of assignments that were submitted) and there is nothing you can do about it. 

 

This is what I do. I don't think it's realistic to do much more when you have weekly assignments. I want my students to be able to hand in assignments to my mailbox when I'm not around so that I don't have to worry about actually being present at due date times. 

 

So, the best thing is to personally be as responsible as possible, which is doing what jenste wrote above. I am still human so eventually I will screw up but it hasn't happened yet. No student has told me I've lost their assignment though. But if it happens, and I am certain I did not lose it, I will tell them that they need to take this up with a formal complaint because as far as I am concerned, they did not hand the assignment in and I will grade them accordingly until someone else tells me otherwise.

 

One thing extra that I do though is when I count the number of assignments handed in, I also check who submitted the assignments. So, I can email the students who did not submit an assignment right away to let them know that I have not yet received their assignment and what the late policy is. Sometimes students just choose not to submit one assignment worth ~5% of the grade because they needed to study for a midterm worth 30% so I definitely understand--I just want to make sure they know I didn't get their assignment!