Per Assignment Extension
Per Assignment Extensions (PAE) may be appropriate for students who have a chronic physical or mental condition/disability with brief, periodic flare-ups that are unpredictable and legitimately impact course attendance on occasion.
PAE provides a limited flexibility to allow for equivalent alternative opportunities in order to address the impact of a brief, periodic health or medical experience that may interfere with a student meeting a deadline. PAE does not automatically apply to all assignments and is not intended to be applied retroactively.
Students approved for PAE remain accountable for all academic activities (assignments, assessments, required readings, etc.) and evaluation standards specified on the syllabus.
Blanket Extensions
PAE is not designed to comprehensively address or fully support a student with predictable disability related impacts related to time management. PAE does not provide a blanket extension for all assignments within a course.
Students with predictable challenges related to meeting due dates should utilize resources to develop an academic plan that works with their disability and meet academic responsibilities. Such resources may include taking reduced credit hours or using University provided resources for academic strategies through the Student Learning Center to assist in managing assignments and meeting due dates.
It is not reasonable for faculty to fundamentally alter, waive or lower essential course requirements, academic standards, or educational experiences/outcomes when attempting to accommodate extension requests.
Assignment Considerations
Per the faculty handbook, instructors should include the following on the syllabus: an explanation of course goals and objectives, the name of the text and any other materials required of each student, the instructor’s office hours, an explanation of how the grade is to be determined, and an explanation of any additional reading, papers, projects and examination which the instructor expects to give or assign. The advance notice allows students to proactively work on their assignments.
Generally, assignments are announced in advance of their due dates with multiple days or weeks to complete and do not require or expect that students will work exclusively on those assignments between the announcement date and the due date.
How to Initiate Per Assignment Extension
PAE generally provides students up to two additional days and is not applicable for lengthy assignment extensions.
Students share their Academic Adjustment/Accommodation Plan with faculty a minimum of 5 business days prior to intended use of approved academic adjustments.
Students must request to use Per Assignment Extension within 24 hours of a specific assignment’s due date for the assignment impacted to the instructor.
Instructors determine the specific number of additional days for assignment completion in consideration of course progression.
When are Deadlines Essential
In general, up to a two day extension on an assignment would not constitute a fundamental alteration to a course; however, ODR encourages instructors to consider the following questions for each course when determining if established due dates are essential?
- Are extensions provided routinely? If so, in what circumstances?
- What does the course description and syllabus indicate regarding late work or completion deadlines?
- Are the due dates arbitrary or are they essential to course requirements?
- Would an extension (or multiple extensions) fundamentally alter the course?
- Does the fundamental nature of the course rely upon timely completion of assignments as an essential method of learning?
- Does timely completion of assignments constitute a significant component of the learning process?
- To what degree does a student’s failure to submit timely completion of assignments constitute a significant loss of the educational experience for other students in the class?
The ultimate decision regarding due dates and the resulting influence extensions would have on the course is at the discretion of the instructor after a comprehensive examination of the essential course requirements.