The Penalty of Late Work on Student Motivation

The purpose of this research synthesis is to explore strategies in maintaining student motivation related to late work in the current environment of online learning due to motivational struggles in online and blended learning (Vanslambrouck et al., 2018; Gray et al., 2020). This study aims to investigate the affects of blanket late work policies and alternative practices. To explore the research question, three major domains were indicated: complications with the fairness of late work penalties in the traditional and standards based grading systems, how late work penalties affect students’ accountability and internal motivation, and alternatives to blanket late work penalties. This research synthesis adopts a bottom-up research approach which begins with searching for relevant studies from the general to specific. It has been found that blanket late work policies are not affective in building accountability in students as our goal as teachers should be for students to learn from mistakes with a chance to correct them (Deci at al., 2001; Wormeli, 2006; Cox, 2011; Reeves et al, 2017). It is seen if there is no chance for redemption, rather than a positive outcome, it more often results in damaged relationships between students and teachers. Educators can benefit from this study as the findings can help structure assignments, homework, and assessments to tailor towards student motivation.