Preventing Loss of Assignments
Most people choose Empire State College because they can tailor their degree studies individually to fit their circumstances, background, and interests. It is an institution with thousands of students. Hundreds of these students are turning in work at your own center. When many people are doing one-at-a-time studies, this creates enormous variation in work flow. I try to promptly acknowledge receipt of all submitted work, usually by e-mail to you. I file e-mailed assignments in an electronic folder and print them when I read and evaluate them. Sometimes they have to wait a few days because of meetings, training away from the office, conferences, or duties at another location of the college. I generally send them back to you with comments, either in the student mail file or via e-mail, but I want to see them again at the end of the study so that I can write a high quality narrative evaluation that helps you understand how you did. PLEASE hold onto and keep together all corrected assignments until the study is complete.
Why must youorganize and back up everything?
Mentors are often working with 75, even 100 studies at a time. Office hours vary and we often travel to mandated college meetings in places like Albany and Saratoga. Occasionally student work may get lost. Late work, delivered as a pile of multiple written documents after a term ends, is particularly vulnerable to loss. We have wonderful support people who staff the reception desk, answer phones, deal with difficult people sometimes (meaning both us and our students!), troubleshoot computers and registrations, and process and file a huge number of documents for multiple people—all hours of the day, evening, and many Saturdays. But sometimes a document can become lost anyway. Back up everything!
Keep a full copy, preferably on computer disk or media
The only way to ensure that your work is not lost is to back it up and keep a second full copy in your possession. Your work is less likely to get lost if it is labeled with your name and the name of the study and clearly organized and titled linking it to your learning activities. It should be secured in a large envelope or closable binding so that the pieces don’t get separated. If it is one-of-a-kind artwork, then clearly communicate this in advance so we can make arrangements for its prompt review and safe return. I have a very good track record with promptly submitted student work! We need to hang onto corrected work, though, so confusion does not occur over what is and is not complete for credit at the end of the study. Thanks for your help in taking charge of your own educational progress!