Regular hand-in's vs. That one BIG deadline

Something I am always being asked is how the weekly assignments compare to those in the UK - here's a hint.  They're assessed out here.

Picture via The Wild WE

At Bath Spa University you will be asked to hand work in each work, or every other week depending on your class timetable, which is workshopped as a group.  If you're not handing in work then you might get a raised eyebrow, a stern look and a reprimand but you won't fail the course. At different stages in the year you will have larger hand-in's that do count toward the course, they are at least 1,000 words and could be an essay or original 'creative writing', that is graded. Obviously the classes differ in the finer details but the common denominator here is that you are expected to turn in work each week there are few consequences if you don't.


On the flip-side Columbia College weekly hand-in's do count toward your grade and so if you are in the habit of not doing the work or submitting it late this can really damage the grade you walk away with. It also backs up the strict attendance rules because if you are not in class to hand in work it'll be a late hand-in and an absence.  


But why is one going to be better than the other?  Well speaking as a student I love that I can miss a class and still make up the work without it damaging my marks.  Only a crazy person misses the final deadline so you can rest assured that as long as you turn in good work then, you should be okay.  The down side with this is that as someone who struggles a little (read as a lot) with self-motivation and so once again the attendance issue rears it's ugly head.  Is it too tempting to skip classes knowing that as long as you turn in a super essay it won't be such a problem. By having deadlines each week it assures that people who may have hidden behind the submissions of harder working (maybe more confident would be better?) cannot.  Each person has to submit each week and it means they are constantly working to the ideas taught in the class that week.  It also means that whoever is leading the class get's to see how people are improving on a week by week basis but can also spot bad habits before they get too ingrained.  The downside here would be the sheer amount of work the class leader is then doing each week, especially for longer pieces of work.  That said - whoever marks the 1000-2,500 (sometimes as much as 5000 for third years) suddenly has a huge workload in a smaller space of time.


Whether you are a student or a teacher I would be really interested to hear your thoughts on this, as I am un-decided, so please please please leave a comment!