What's a good way to prevent students from saying I lost their paper?

Question

As a teacher, I've often had students say that they turned in an assignment, but that because I don't see it, grade it, and return it back to them, that I must have lost their papers/assignments. I tend to be disorganized at times, so it's hard for me to confidently say that I really haven't lost their papers. To make matters worse, I have lost a student paper or two over the years only to find it weeks later.

How should I respond?

Notes:

• Many have noted electronic submission. I'm assuming for this question that students turn in something physical that I could theoretically lose. ;-) This also allows this question to be applicable to schools that may not use electronic submission.

Answer 1

First, get organized.

You need a good defence. Make sure that you are not at fault.

What I've done is to put student assignments in a folder and keep it entirely separate from any other papers I have. When I bring their assignments home, I transport them in a plastic bag to further distinguish them and prevent papers from falling out somehow. For situations where the class turns in lots of assignments and students don't always pick up their graded assignments, papers can get out of order, so I make sure to keep each assignment in a separate folder, or I put all graded assignments in a single stack alphabetized by last name. I know with full certainty that students' assignments are in my "to-grade" folder, or my "to-return" folder, and nowhere else.

Second, respond to the student

If they say you've lost their paper, give them the benefit of the doubt by looking through your stack. If it's not there, you know it won't be anywhere else, short of a devious third-party intervention, and you can tell them so. :-)

Alternatives

• Use an electronic submission dropbox (e.g. Blackboard, D2L, etc.).
  • You could have students email their assignments to you, but there's always the possibility that it gets caught in your spam filter. If you did this, you should send them an email ASAP to confirm that you received their submission.
• Keep all papers in a single room: never take them home to grade, etc.
• Keep a list of students who submitted their work as they turn it in.
• Scan in assignments, keep an electronic copy and send the copy to students (idea from @MadMyche, in the comments below).

Answer 2

Have the students write date, their name and the title of the assignment into the lower right corner of the first page.

When you receive a paper, put a stamp/short signature next to that, cut off the corner, and hand it back to the student. It'll serve as a receipt. There are even stamps with an "auto-increment" feature, which produce serial numbers.

Now, no one can claim you've lost some paper which has never been in existence, and no one can use the cut-off corners for a different assignment (you don't even have to collect them when returning the graded papers).

Next step: do not lose papers.

Answer 3

There are many good answers above. However, for your particular situation (only physical papers, and being realistic) realities of life is that submission within the classroom is rather hectic and you can't check/verify every student submission on the spot.

The way I suggest is simple: you just need to ensure that nothing is/was lost by you. In order to do so:

I place a large envelope (or even a box) on the table, visible enough to ensure no one can take something from it. and require students to place their work in the box/container. All what I need to do is to count the submissions and write down the count before I dismiss the class. If you want even more reassurances, tell the students the count (the latter will have the extra benefit of highlighting how may submissions are missing with out pointing out anyone or spending too much time verifying).

After grading, I know how many I had and how many I graded. If the numbers match, I haven't lost anything.

So, that solution should take you about 60 seconds to implement and no one can possibly claim that their work was lost as long as your numbers match.

Answer 4

I used to work in a job where I was required to keep a solid paper trail that could be backed up in case something was 'lost'.

The best way to do it is to take a picture of every item that comes in with a cellphone (or digital camera - both super cheap these days!). No need to take a picture of every page, just a picture of the front cover.

You won't need to keep these pictures for long (just until you hand stuff back) and it'll stop it being an issue. Do it as it's handed in, and allow your students to see you do it, in case they're trying to get one over on you as you've lost it before.

If you lose stuff after that, there's not much you can do other than keeping more organised. Have a bag for 'stuff to mark' and 'stuff to hand back'.

Answer 5

Print a big spreadsheet of names

Just my grain of salt: at my high school, they have a list of students supposed to pass a given test. When we give in our copies, we have to sign it. This serves as proof of work.

You just supervise if they really have signed their work in as they fill it in, and you can log even more info, such as date (or time), number of sheets etc...

This way, you close off many loopholes, and because the students are the ones filling it in, they know they can't cheat this way and won't even try.

Answer 6

I see two alternatives:

(i) When it seems within the realm of reasonable possibility that you've lost a piece of student work, apologize and allow the student to resubmit it. It is by the way a good idea for students to keep copies of the work that they submit. Current technology makes this pretty easy independently of the format -- e.g. by taking cell phone pictures of handwritten work.

(ii) Get more organized, so that when a student claims you've lost their work, you can be confident and convincing that you haven't.

As for me, I mostly go with (i) for things like written homework (which tend to pass through a grader's hands before they get back to me; lots of opportunities for loss there), but I favor (ii) for exams: I have never lost an exam, and I would happily stare down a student who said I did.

Answer 7

Electronic submission is the best. I couple this with simultaneous printed submissions. If they give it to me in print, it's on time but I expect an electronic copy ASAP and likewise if it's in online, I'll expect a print copy ASAP. (I personally wouldn't mind printing them, but the way our LMS works it can take me a solid minute or two to print each, and that's an hour or two wasted).

On test day, I take roll and ensure that I got each person's test (this is as much for the students as for the instructor, to make sure no stray tests will be floating around before everyone in a multi-section class has taken it). Students can see that literally the moment they walk out and that means no one can claim otherwise.

For anything handed in on paper, I also binder clip them together AND put into a manila envelope. Haven't lost anything yet, although I probably overkill it a bit.

Answer 8

You could ask students to save copies and that you might lose papers. Then be liberal in letting students turn in work late.

Answer 9

The best way to prevent students from saying you lost their paper is a) not losing them, and b) keeping a record of the submitted assignments. If you're sometimes disorganized, find a simple, even better: automatic way of record-keeping and stick to it. For example you can achieve a) and b) by accepting only digital assignments that students send by email or upload somewhere. This way, you will also have a time-stamp.

Answer 10

Another form of receipt.

You prepare them outside the test.

The first is a document which contains for each test and each student a randomly selected long number, e.g. 17289346983. This paper is stored at home and never in the office.

Then you print out for each test:

name of the student / number

as a receipt and sort them alphabetically to find them fast. Do that in a copyshop with a cutting machine, it's quite fast.

The students give up their test and get in return their receipt. Any given test without receipt are invalid, so the students will not conveniently "forget" to get their receipt.
Using random numbers that you only know prevents fakes or forgery and is not so work-intensive like signatures (which can be still be forged).

Do not let pressure you for shortcuts or many students demanding them at the same time. Many students => queue. If they coming up with "important reasons" and "no time", their problem. But the students themselves will not really fight the system because you are already known as the professor losing papers (sorry to be blunt, but such blunders will be communicated through the grapevine without mercy).

Otherwise I can only reiterate that you need to get organized one way or the other.

Answer 11

One strategy I used is that I gave them a sheet of paper with an encrypted confirmation code for each assignment, that was unique to each person and each assignment. I declared if I lost their homework and they had the receipt, they would get full credit. This worked for a small course, and I was very organized to know everyone's name and kept them in a mini filing cabinet that I would take to the course. I forced them to turn everything in by hand to me directly. It is the only thing that has worked with 100% success for me.

This is not a tractable solution for a large course.

Answer 12

Well, easy, and has always worked for me: Have a simple table for the assignments. The students hands you an assignment, you make a checkmark in the table. The table is simple: one line per student, one column per assignment. For instance I have a table for checking the attendance anyway, so I would make it one table: the ones handing me an assignment are the ones present; if someone is present but does not hand an assignment, I'd have a special mark for it. Make it clear that it is the student's responsibility to wait for you to note the assignment in the table by the checkmark!

Now, the student can say that you made a second version of the table and omitted this one checkmark. However, that pushes the student from saying you made a mistake to saying you made a deliberate action against the student; this would be a very hard and a completely different blame.

Answer 13

Place the burden of proof on the user.

This involves giving them a receipt. Yes, this can be a physical receipt, which you hand out when they personally hand the assignment to you. The receipt could simply have a number on it. e.g., 631453 for assignment 6, period 3, desk 14, if they have a 5 page document, turned in on Wednesday (the third weekday).

The reason they make this claim (even if it is true) is usually that they don't want to be penalized for lateness. So give them the full benefit of the doubt if they produce a receipt and you can't use that receipt. But if they can't produce the receipt, then regardless of how true their story is, they will not get the points.

Clearly what is described above seems cumbersome. Electronic submissions would be nice. However, you can also customize this process as extensively as you like. For instance, you don't need to hand out a receipt to every student; just the ones who request it. Then, IF they make a claim that you lost things, you can rightfully say that they had a known process to be able to protect themselves from this very issue, and they won't have a foundation to be able to insinuate that their lower GPA is due to something that is your fault and out of their control.

Answer 14

In my teaching jobs in the past, this is what we did, and never had the problem regarding lost work:

• Remind the students that it is their responsibility to make and maintain a backup of their work.
• As the student submits their work, they sign and date a master class sheet.
• I always have the work stored in a labelled document folder (or small box depending on the size of the submissions) - placing each submission in as the students submit it. Ticking each of the names off.
• Immediately store the document folder in a filing cabinet, with other assessment folders - this is on you to maintain this organisation.

It was suggested to me that if possible, make a photocopy of the submission (or have the student submit a second copy with their original copy) - but this was never necessary as nothing was lost.

Following these steps, I never had the problem of lost work, nor had I been successfully accused of losing work.

Answer 15

I would just ask for an additional copy, either physical or digital. I had an undergrad class where each semester the professor would have a two binders, one to be graded and one for record keeping/reference. You'd personally have to put your hole punched paper into the binder rings, after the class he'd zip the binder close and put in his office. When someone challenged him on having lost a paper he'd just pull out the binder and ask them to find there paper. A majority would "remember" that they didnt turn it in after flipping a few pages.

It was also helpful as future classes could see other project ideas that were presented, page layouts, etc.

Answer 16

Simple is best

The simplest solution is by far the best: Keep an 'attendance sheet' on you for them to sign whilst they give you the assignment. If they don't sign the sheet, the assignment was never submitted.

Answer 17

LIST OF NAMES

Make a list of the students in your class. Make copies of this for all assignments, papers from this class. Leave space for a heading. eg: Math Assignment May 2nd 2017.

SIGNATURES

Have four columns next to each student name - two for your signature, two for students signature. When the student submits the paper ask him to sign the sheet. When you receive a paper both of you sign. When you give him back the graded paper, again both sign. This way its impossible for the student to lie. Ensure that everyone signs so that no one can say they didn't sign.

Also while handing out graded papers always give them one by one. Leaving graded papers on your desk is a good way for papers to be lost.

Finally, DON'T LOSE PAPERS. GET ORGANIZED.

Answer 18

How about using a low-tech, old-fashioned receipt book? Requires no electronics,a and all your receipts will be in one place. Students hand in assignment, and can fill in the "from" and "for" spaces in your book. You sign them all toward the end of class, and hand out their copies as they leave.

Answer 19

For dispute resolution without the time involved in a formal receipt process, set up a dashcam, and record the physical submissions.