Who needs deadlines, anyways?
Who needs deadlines, anyways?
In the realm of adult education, it’s common of course to provide as much autonomy to our students as possible, mimicking perhaps the organizational trend to push decisions down to the lowest levels in the hierarchy. Thus, we often let students form their own collaborative learning teams and select their own presentation or assignment topics, hoping, I suppose, that this will help them practice good self-management in the manner that the real world works these days?
But why not let adult learners set their own due dates for deliverables, too?
Case in point for me would be the dates I set for initial discussion posts in my online classes. I know it’s not uncommon at many online colleges to require a first post on a topic by a certain day of the week. Certainly, this was the way things were done at the several universities where I have previously taught online classes. If instructors and curriculum designers did not insist when the first online posts must occur, wouldn’t most students then wait until the last minute to get their work posted in the online classroom, expressly defeating the purpose of an interactive and engaging dialogue?
Inspired by such innovative ideas as “flipping the classroom”, I wondered recently if I was wrong to use my formal power to demand a first discussion question (DQ) post by Wednesday and the completion of all DQ posts by 11:59 pm of the online week. When there are two DQ’s, I have used Friday as the deadline for DQ#2, and again Sunday before midnight as the closing date for follow-up comments, grading earlier posts more favorably than late.
Perhaps, these deadlines set be me are too inflexible, or just for my own grading convenience? In the evolving digital future, maybe hard and fast dates and times will morph into something less stringent? Or is this simply an affectation of Western civilization that is destined to become extinct along with the oft-predicted global erosion of Western cultural dominance?
On the other hand, dear Linked In “tribe”, are time limits and cutoff dates a reality of our personal and professional lives that cannot be avoided by responsible adults? Therefore, by enforcing deadlines I am really providing reinforcement to my students that will assist then to lead more satisfying and productive lives?
Then, should I just accept the fact that there will always be some percentage of students who can be justifiably characterized as “bad” time managers or deliberate deliverable shirkers? Consequently, the point deduction penalties exacted upon them by me when grading are substantiated, unavoidable and inevitable?
I would love to get some feedback from both adult learners and the professionals like me who are dedicated to guiding them well along their educational journeys: Are deadlines really needed?