Students enter our classrooms with full, busy lives. Often their academic success requires flexibility with assignment deadlines; work and family responsibilities, illness, or other external challenges may make it difficult for them to complete assigned work by the deadlines stated on the syllabus. As we were coming out of the initial COVID-19 pandemic, I tried to offer more flexibility to my students. I quickly became overwhelmed with the sheer number of emails from students requesting extensions. Further, once I granted students extensions--each tailored to the student’s specific needs--I found myself needing to create a spreadsheet to keep track of these new and varied deadlines!

I read about the idea of a token system for assignment extensions (Dyer, 2022; Volk, 2022), which gives students a certain number of “tokens” for the course with a predefined extension on the assignment. All this is done, generally, without even an email to the instructor! (Yay for fewer emails in your inbox!)  

How to Create a Token System for Deadline Extensions

1. Consider how many assignments you have and decide upon the appropriate number of tokens for your course.
2. Determine how long the extension will be. For example, do you want to have received all students’ assignments before you begin to return them to students after grading? When do you usually grade the assignments? When do they need feedback to be able to successfully complete subsequent assignments?
3. Create a late assignment “token” survey that students will complete to “cash in” the token. Keep it brief: student name, G number, name of assignment that will be submitted late, original deadline, new deadline.
4. Communicate the policy to students (see my example syllabus language below).
5. Make the link to the survey easy to access (e.g., on the syllabus, on the Moodle page).
6. Refer students to the link when they request an extension.
7. Remember to check the form for cashed-in tokens before grading!

Conclusion

I have found that most students never cash in a token, but those who do appreciate the flexibility. Once the policy is established, the management of these extensions requires very little effort. Finally, in some instances, students have reported that they handed in work of a higher quality than they would have without the extension. 

References and Resources

Dyer, J. (2022, December, 16). Reflecting on 3 unique grading strategies in intro bio.  Jayme Dyer, Phd.

Volk, S. (2022, February 3). Academic Currency: How Tokens Took (Some) Anxiety Out of Late Work. Great Lakes Colleges Association/Global Liberal ARts Alliance Consortium for Teaching and Learning. 

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About the Author

Becca Cheezum is an Associate Professor in the Public & Environmental Wellness Department in the School of Health Sciences.  She teaches public health classes and recently completed the Inclusive Teaching Academy. Her research looks at strategies to address the social determinants of health. She lives with her husband and daughter in Royal Oak where she serves as a City Commissioner. 

Appendix: Example Syllabus Language

It is expected that students will make every effort to pay attention to assignment deadlines and make every effort to meet deadlines. It is also understood that life sometimes can get in the way. This late assignment policy is designed to strike a balance between flexibility to respond to life circumstances and being fair to all students. Please be aware of the following components of the Late Assignment Policy:  

• Each student has three “tokens” that they can use this semester. These are essentially automatic extensions for an assignment. To “cash in” a token, you must complete this survey within 48 hours after the missed deadline. This token will give the student up to five extra days to complete the assignment without penalty (e.g., if the assignment is due 1/1/2025 at 11:59pm, the assignment will now be due at 1/6/2025 at 11:59pm).
• If a student has missed a deadline and has not appropriately exercised option A above, the following will be the late penalty:
  • 5-point deduction if submitted within 24 hours after the deadline (this includes assignments submitted as little as 1 minute after the deadline--avoid submitting your assignment at the last minute to avoid this deduction!)
  • 10-point deduction if submitted within 5 days (120 hours) of the deadline.
  • Students will receive a 0 for assignments not received within 5 days after the deadline. I am still happy to review your assignment and provide you feedback.
  • You may only submit one token per assignment.
  • It is STRONGLY recommended that students avoid submitting their assignments in the final minutes before the deadline to avoid a late penalty.

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