Hofstadter's Law: "It always takes longer than you think, even when you take Hofstadter's Law into account."
The assignment deadline policy this quarter has been designed with built-in flexibility in mind, given that the circumstances of online learning may sometimes be unpredictable. With that being said, here are the details of the assignment deadline and late policy this quarter:
- All assignments this quarter will have a single published deadline, which will be enforced as 11:59pm in the Pacific time zone, i.e. 11:59pm UTC-7. Submission by this deadline will result in a 5% added bonus to your final grade on that particular assignment. These bonuses will be added at the end of the quarter and will not be reflected in your individual bucket grades.
- All students will be granted a penalty-free 24- or 48-hour "grace period" for submission on all assignments (except the final one). The grace period allows you to submit the assignment after the original deadline, with no impact on your final grade. Following our prior example, for an assignment with a July 10 submission deadline and a 24-hour grace period, all students have the opportunity to submit until 11:59pm in the Pacific time zone and still be eligible to submit their work for full credit. This grace period is meant to give built-in flexibility for any unexpected snags – however, we strongly recommend that students submit by the original deadline if possible, in order to avoid falling behind on the class cadence.
- Late submissions are not accepted after the grace period expires, unless there have been arrangements made for an exceptional situation as described below.
Note that due to the proximity of the deadline of the last assignment to the final project submission deadline, there will be no grace period for the final assignment, and therefore, we cannot accept any late submissions for this assignment or the final project.
The grace period is effectively an automatic extension that has been approved in advance. Given that, additional extensions beyond the grace period are generally not granted. In exceptional circumstances (primarily extended medical problems, emergencies, or previously established OAE accommodations), the grace period may be extended for individual students on a case-by-case basis. An extension request must be received no later than 24 hours before the deadline. Only the lecturers are able to approve extensions. In particular, do not ask your section leader.
Common questions about late policy
Does the deadline change depending on my time zone?
No, deadlines are the same for all students. For this course, we express all times in the Pacific time zone. You can assume any time in our course materials, website, and tools (Paperless, etc) refers to Pacific time.
If I make a first submission by the deadline, can I use the grace period to make a later submission or add a extension?
If you make multiple submissions, we grade the last one. If the last submission is during the grace period, you forfeit any on-time bonus. The grace period is intended to provide flexibility when unexpected circumstances prevent you from completing the main assignment on time. Late submissions put extra pressure on your section leader to return feedback to you in a timely manner. We ask that you use the grace period only when your situation requires it.