I think the student may have misunderstood that we (HEIs, theorists of
pedagogy, whatever) would consider the essential difference between an
'exam' and an 'assignment' to be that the first is time-contrained and the
second is not. That (or, rather, breaking the tyranny of time constraint) is
why extra time is given at all for exams.
In practice, blanket extensions are a bad idea for all concerned, and
counter productive, because, wilfully or not, the student is predicted to
write to the date given as though it is the first deadline, so all that is
being created, really, is a hiatus or delay. This can mean they have as much
trouble hitting the deadline as they might have had, had it not been altered
(whew!) and end up, you guessed it, requesting an extension...unless she
wants a blanket on this. Where this leads, who knows? Perhaps she never
wants a hand in date specified.
(A strategy that is tried and tested is encouraging lecturers to give the
assessment questions early, so the students can be considering their
responses. I've noticed that now many lecturers put the question(s) in the
module booklet, so all students have this information from the outset. This
is good but fraught with its own dangers, the most common complaint being
that nothing can be done until all learning is 'done'. Well, fair enough,
but I still don't think this alters my previous two paragraphs.)
Sorry I am sending this beyond the deadline for your meeting. It's just I've
been REALLY REALLY busy and seeing LOTS AND LOTS of students and can I put
in a mitigating circumstances form for this? Pleeease?
Iain
Iain Hood
Senior Student Adviser, Learning Support
Student Support Services
APU
East Road
Cambridge
CB1 1PT
01223 363271 ex 2316
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Sheila Watts" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2004 1:31 PM
Subject: Extensions for coursework
We have always resisted the request from our disabled students to have
blanket extensions for all course work and given them all the reasons why, I
wont go on here and list them all but after having a complaint from one of
our disabled students our Director of Student Services has asked me to ask
if any Universities have a blanket extension for students and how you all
manage it. The student in question (who is dyslexic) feels she should not
have to ask her tutors for an extension and it should be her right as it is
her right to have the extra time in exams.
Thoughts please, meeting with Head and student tomorrow.
Sheila
Sheila Watts
Head of Support Service for students with disabilities
Liverpool Hope University College
Hope Park
Liverpool
L16 9JD
Tel/Minicom 0151-291-3064
e-mail [log in to unmask]
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