Are there penalties for making a mistake in the mechanics of the submission?

Why I have submission guidelines

I have designed a set of submission guidelines that are, in fact, critical for me to be able to run the class as it now is, with frequent communication between a large number of students. I do not ask casually that students follow them. I understand that it is difficult at times to remember these rules and many excellent students have been tripped up by them. However, students can and do learn these guidelines.

As assignment grade becomes "0" (F) once a deadline has passed and a correct submission is not there. It will not receive a grade different from this until submitted correctly.

Why I have submission penalties

While most students learn these guidelines quickly and willingly, some students do not seem to take to heart this important request by me. Penalties for submission errors exist solely because some students do not voluntarily embrace the guidelines.

How I log in submissions

All electronic submissions are logged in by me. My computer filters to a folder the submissions, based on the subject line. I work only from that folder, so an incorrect subject line usually makes your document invisible to me.

I open all attachments (if any), check the document title, check the subject line content and check to see if the email was sent to the correct addressees. "ACCEPTED" means that your submission has met the submissions guidelines. "NOT YET ACCEPTED" means that it has not. Sometimes I will indicate why but when I am busy I just send it back with this simple statement and the student needs to check on his or her own.

"How do I know that you have received my email?"

I try to log in assignments within hours of the due time but there are stretches in the term when this is not possible. If you have not heard back from me within a couple of days, please write and ask why.

I sometimes post an announcement to the Home Page or send out an email indicating that I have logged in all found submissions. That is another opportunity to check whether I have received your submission.

If I upload grades to bSpace and there is a "0" as a grade for an assignment, that is another indication that I have not found a submission from you.

How I record on time and late submissions

When submissions arrive ahead of the deadline, I record the due date and time; when submissions arrive late, I record the time it arrived to my In-Box and the gradebook calculated how past due the submission is. Example (9 students, one per row):

Common submission errors. Avoid these...

These are the common submission errors for which I send a submission back to the student:

• The GSI was not included in the email, or other addressee problems
• The subject line is incorrect
• The attached document is of the wrong type or cannot be opened (including corrupted files) Corrupt files are not considered a forgivable excuse because, unfortunately, some students use this method to gain time on a deadline.

When do I penalize for a submission error?

Students often wonder whether a submission that was returned because of an incorrect submission format is penalized for being late.

The answer is "No" when it is a rare occurrence or in the first three weeks of the term (one week in the case of summer session).

However, once any of the below occurs, no further forgiveness for missed deadlines due to incorrect submission form is given:

The student submits a corrupt file. (In addition to flagging the student as no longer eligible for submission guideline forgiveness, corrupt files are logged in only when the corruption is fixed, thus generating late penalties as well as placing the student at the bottom of the read/grade list.)

Essay process, Step 03 is due. Step 03 is the full essay and it is the most difficult of the course's deadlines to meet. It is also the step when the greatest number of submission errors occur. At the same time it is also the most difficult of the course assignments to manage in terms of documents and as well as the most difficult to respond to in time in terms of grading. Step 03 errors simply cause too much chaos at my end. Be very careful when submitting for this step.

Essay process, Step 04 is due, because no late submissions of any kind are allowed for Step 04.

Either essay step submission 01 or 02 has been sent back for resubmission. (Step 00 is practice, Steps 03 and 04 do not forgive submission errors.)

An RP has been sent back for resubmission twice.

Also, if the student does not respond to any resubmission request within 48 hours, late penalties, based on the original due time, are calculated. This is because a surprisingly large number of students (more than 50%) do not respond promptly, or ever, to my requests for resubmission. As stated above, an assignment does not receive a grade until submitted correctly.

Please notice that the system is designed so that it is not to the benefit of the student to intentionally submit incorrectly in an attempt to gain work time.

How I handle the documents attached to incorrect submissions.

The attached document or email content that arrived with the rejected submission information will be what is graded, not the document that arrives with the resubmission.