At the end of the fall semester I blogged how frustrating it was to have students start to call, e-mail, and visit me to find out what they could do to get a better grade in the final week of the semester. Many wanted to make up assignment they missed at the beginning of the semester because they are close to an A and lobbying for special consideration. Or, complaining that an assignment was graded wrong or misplaced by the TA somewhere during the course of the semester and that is keeping them from an A so wondering "if anything else can be done" to get more points and get a higher grade. Of course, there was nothing that could be done but that did not stop the lobbying.
That has all changed! I instituted a policy in my spring syllabus for my sales and HR clas that has effectively ended the end-of-the year lobbying, begging, pleading, crying, complaining to get special consideration for extra credit or make up an assignment that did not get a passing grade or the zeroes issued to those not turned in. The policy in the syllabus is as follows:
Students have one week to address concerns they may have over the assignments due during the semester once they have been graded and returned by TA’s. Also, once an assignment has been graded there is no going back in time to try to make it up even if missing the assignment and getting a zero.
Hallelujah! Those two simple sentences have allowed the end of the semester to wind down gracefully without a steady stream of student lobbyists. I highly recommend adding it to your syllabus so you last week of the term or semester is a pleasant one.
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