Grading late work from student out with Covid

[AeroProf]

How, wise colleagues, do I grade fairly in this situation? A student in one of my courses entered class 3 weeks late, hours before the add deadline (students can add without our approval), attended two sessions, and then was out for several weeks with Covid and other complications (he has a doctor's note, and cc'd me on an email to all of his professors). He has far exceeded the number of absences allowed on my syllabus, but our university just sent out an email urging faculty to work with such students given the unprecedented nature of Covid.
Yesterday, he unexpectedly showed up in class, said he recovered, and claimed he forgot to turn in the first major assignment--which was due two weeks ago--but had completed it before the deadline and would email it to me after class. I am not sure about the forgetting, but it appears he's telling the truth about the illness. As it happens, I planned yesterday's class around an in-depth discussion of that major assignment, complete with slides. He didn't email his assignment to me until this afternoon (more than a day later), so I am concerned he took that time to incorporate some of the takeaways from class--information other students did not have when completing the assignment.
Some smaller assignments involved group work, and cannot be repeated. The student turned in the other smaller assignments (that students did individually) today, but I feel it's unfair to give the student full credit, when most of these assignments were due weeks ago, and other students received (minor) point deductions for uploading work two days late. In addition, what to do about his participation grade?
My institution is urging professors to do everything they can to accommodate students, and we are not recommended to advise students to drop the course. What has been your experience grading the work of students in similar situations, while being fair to the other students who attended and submitted work on time? I feel for students like this one, who are struggling. Yet I am concerned that other students will begin turning in work late, or skipping class, if they see that this student gets credit.

[clean]

My first class exam is tomorrow. I know of one student that has been fighting COVID in the last week. He wanted the exam online, but I have not set it up to be online and dont have the time to do it.  Fortunately!!  My syllabus indicates that students can miss one exam, and have the comprehensive final replace the missed grade.

Do you have something like that in your syllabus?  Can you make a similar arrangement with the student?  Use a later assignment that sort of encompasses the missed assignment count for both?

That way you can be supportive!  "Your FIRST job is to Get Better!!"  We can work around the deadlines with verified doctor's orders.

Does that help?

[AeroProf]

@ Clean: Thanks for your helpful reply! I do have a final exam at the end of the semester--perhaps that could be weighted more heavily for this student. I agree with your emphasis on the student's recovery--I emphasized that in my email to him. I don't have a policy on the syllabus for this much missed time, but I'll give your suggestion some thought.

[Zeus Bird]

"Our university just sent out an email urging faculty to work with such students given the unprecedented nature of Covid."

There are many unexpected things that happen in life, and faculty should build flexibility into their syllabi and their courses to help students.  Missing 3 weeks of class after registering late (quite a registration deadline!) + "several weeks," however, goes far beyond the boundaries of what faculty should be asked by administrators to "work with."  There is a difference between being flexible in a course on one hand, and directing what amounts to an independent study for a student who has missed most of the semester and most of the assignments. 

"Working with students?"  What do administrators think faculty do besides working with students all the time?  OP, if you don't have the protection of tenure you'll have to discern the best path forward given your situation.  If you do have the ability to draw the line and want to do so, I recommend you tell the relevant administrators that you do work with students, but that students have to also have the ability and willingness to work with you, and prolonged illness hinders that ability.  A student who is ill for most of the semester is better off taking a medical leave, being sure that administration "works with" the student to offer a full refund for the course.

[FishProf]

When does Covid stop being "unprecedented"?

[downer]

We already had a long thread about how to respond to admin requests to work with students and be flexible. One thing that was clear is that admins are wanting to put all the extra work on faculty and are not willing to provide any more resources.

I find with the kind of student the OP is talking about, they generally manage to fail themselves without me being heavy handed about it. Their lives are in crisis and they have poor coping skills. Most often I send a few sympathetic emails with encouraging words, and they drop off the radar soon enough.

[Caracal]

1. I'm perplexed by the invocation of fairness. It is not unfair to other students to make allowances for individual circumstances in the case of this student. If you allow a student to turn it in late work without penalty because he had Covid, it isn't unfair to a student who turned in the paper two days late who didn't have Covid to take off points. Covid isn't an unfair advantage, it is a disease this student contracted.

2. Usually I think policies that specify students can't miss more than x number of days and pass the course are a bad idea. You should have a good reason for the policy, it shouldn't just be because you don't like the idea of students not coming to class and being able to pass.

3. You seem to be gearing up to fight a battle for no particular reason. Just let the student turn in the missed work and grade it. I would bet on the student disappearing later in the semester and failing, but if they can get caught up and turn everything in and complete the remainder of the class, why is that a problem?

4. On the particular issues. For the participation grade, I would do whatever you would normally do for students who add at the end of the add drop period, not penalize him for the COVID absences and grade him on the rest of the semester. For the major assignment, just let it go. The world won't end if this one student who had Covid, got a small advantage. For the small assignments, I would probably try to find something that is easy for you to grade, doesn't involve lots of extra work for you, but is probably more difficult for the student than the original assignments and give him plenty of time to finish them.

Like Downer said, you don't need to try to be the arbiter of fairness. Students who run into unfortunate circumstances but are determined to handle things will usually do ok if you give them a little leeway. If these issues with communication are indicative of a larger series of problems, the student is way behind and won't be able to get caught up anyway. You don't need to get in some fight where you are going to seem like you're the bad guy. Not necessary.

[Parasaurolophus]

I think the concern about 'unfairness' stems from the student possibly having had the chance to incorporate into their first assignment class material which was unavailable to the other students. (To the extent that it stems from effectively having an extension, I agree that it's misapplied.)

Even so, I wouldn't bother. I would just accept the work and accept that the student might get a better mark than they would have gotten. I generally don't feel it's worth my time and effort to engage in fine-grained adjudication like this. I don't think it's worth AeroProf's either.

[kiana]

Even so, I wouldn't bother. I would just accept the work and accept that the student might get a better mark than they would have gotten. I generally don't feel it's worth my time and effort to engage in fine-grained adjudication like this. I don't think it's worth AeroProf's either.

I agree. The odds of it making a significant difference in the grade are pretty small anyway.

[the_geneticist]

I'd contact the student's academic advisor to let them know how much work the student has missed.  They are taking more than one class and might need to consider dropping a course or two so they can have a chance to pass.

As far as the missing work, I'd give them the max number of excused absences allowed in the syllabus, accept their work as is with no penalty, and just continue with the course.  If any other students ask, tell them that they would get the same flexibility if they were also ill. 

Honestly, if they are that behind it's unlikely that they will pass anyway.

[Wahoo Redux]

I think differently from most of the people here, at least it appears so.

I want to make my environment as safe for myself as I reasonably can (I am pretty uncomfortable in the classroom as it is, even with our mask mandates).  If a student thinks hu might have the bug, I am willing to bend a good way to keep them out of the classroom where I and other people might inhale the viral load. 

And while pandemics are certainly not unprecedented, they are still a once-in-a-generation thing.  I feel I can bend the rules a good deal during a crisis, which is what we still have going on.

[Mobius]

1. I'm perplexed by the invocation of fairness. It is not unfair to other students to make allowances for individual circumstances in the case of this student. If you allow a student to turn it in late work without penalty because he had Covid, it isn't unfair to a student who turned in the paper two days late who didn't have Covid to take off points. Covid isn't an unfair advantage, it is a disease this student contracted.

2. Usually I think policies that specify students can't miss more than x number of days and pass the course are a bad idea. You should have a good reason for the policy, it shouldn't just be because you don't like the idea of students not coming to class and being able to pass.

3. You seem to be gearing up to fight a battle for no particular reason. Just let the student turn in the missed work and grade it. I would bet on the student disappearing later in the semester and failing, but if they can get caught up and turn everything in and complete the remainder of the class, why is that a problem?

4. On the particular issues. For the participation grade, I would do whatever you would normally do for students who add at the end of the add drop period, not penalize him for the COVID absences and grade him on the rest of the semester. For the major assignment, just let it go. The world won't end if this one student who had Covid, got a small advantage. For the small assignments, I would probably try to find something that is easy for you to grade, doesn't involve lots of extra work for you, but is probably more difficult for the student than the original assignments and give him plenty of time to finish them.

Like Downer said, you don't need to try to be the arbiter of fairness. Students who run into unfortunate circumstances but are determined to handle things will usually do ok if you give them a little leeway. If these issues with communication are indicative of a larger series of problems, the student is way behind and won't be able to get caught up anyway. You don't need to get in some fight where you are going to seem like you're the bad guy. Not necessary.

The first point is a value statement. There are many circumstances in a student's life that "isn't their fault." Where is the line? It's not just Covid, but some schools really push eliminating any sort of deadlines. FYI, I'm not a stickler with deadlines as I give students a few free passes depending on the course. Students are somewhat at fault for contracting Covid, though, right? Are they always masking or avoiding others?

[RatGuy]

Students are somewhat at fault for contracting Covid, though, right? Are they always masking or avoiding others?

I have only one student who actively resists wearing a face covering in class. He calls it "bullshit," will take it off he thinks he's not being watched, and is otherwise a PITA about the whole thing. Major project due today and he claims now that he can't turn it in because he's feeling bad and he thinks he might have COVID.

My policy is that if students are required to quarantine or otherwise stay home (with covid, mono, strep, flu), they're to provide documentation and I'll craft an alternate assignment. This student doesn't want that assignment -- he wants a blanket extension. He's not following any of the policy. I wonder if this'll be a test case for appeals if he decides to run it up the chain.

[Sun_Worshiper]

I've had several students out with Covid or staying home because they are worried they were exposed to Covid and there isn't much I can do except let them miss - and of course I don't want them in the classroom if they are sick. The results is yet another lost semester for some of my students (and in general, student performance has been weak this semester). 

Fact is that universities won't be able to get back to normal without vaccine mandates.

[Caracal]

Students are somewhat at fault for contracting Covid, though, right? Are they always masking or avoiding others?

Generally, it is a bad idea to hold people responsible for contracting an illness. Honestly, I'm a little confused. I haven't thrown caution to the wind since I got vaccinated, but I started seeing vaccinated family and friends (and some unvaccinated kids) inside without masks. It increases the risk of getting infected, but that's a risk I'm willing to take, especially since my chances of getting really sick are quite low.

Students aren't required to wear masks in their residence halls mostly, which is reasonable, and if they eat in dining halls they obviously can't mask while they eat. It is totally possible for people taking reasonable precautions, including vaccination, to get Covid. So no, holding people at fault for contracting covid is a very bad idea.