Follow-Up Assignments help instructors scaffold projects, while Revisions give individual students another chance on the same assignment.
On the surface, revisions and follow-up assignments may seem somewhat similar, but it’s important to understand how they differ:
Follow-Up Assignments
- Are new and separate assignments that instructors set up for the whole class.
- Are set and decided upon prior to assigning the work to your class
- Have their own settings, deadlines, and grades, distinct from any previous assignments.
- Carry over prior student writing, sources and notes into a new assignment workspace.
- Are only available within Deep Dives type Writing Assignments.
Revisions
- Are extensions of an existing assignment, given to individual students after they have submitted an attempt.
- Are set and decided upon while an instructor is evaluating an individual student’s submission
- Allow students to resubmit improved work with an extension on the original deadline if necessary.
- Replace the previous submission's grade with a new one.
- Are available in both Deep Dives and Originality Review type Writing Assignments.
Still not sure which to use? Ask yourself the following questions.
| Do you want the full class to submit multiple drafts? Do you want each draft to have separate, distinct deadlines? Do you want each submission receiving with its own grade? Do you want to change the prompt or requirements/rubric/rigor of the evaluation for each draft? | If you answered yes to any of these, we recommend you use follow-up assignments to accomplish your goal. |
| While grading, do you want to reopen an assignment for some, but not necessarily all, students? Do you want the flexibility to give feedback to a student and allow them another attempt to improve their grade? Do you need to differentiate the evaluation approach based on student performance or a misunderstanding of the assignment? | If you answered yes to any of these, we recommend you assign individual revisions while evaluating each student’s submission. |
How might they work together?
Follow-up assignments and revisions can work in concert with one another. For instance, while grading a follow-up assignment, instructors can request revisions from individual students at their discretion, just like any other Deep Dive Assignment.
If there is a follow-up assignment to an assignment for which a student has multiple submissions due to revision, that student’s most recent and up-to-date submission will be copied over when they start that follow-up assignment.
To learn more about each, visit the following articles:
- Assigning a Revision for a Writing Assignment
- What is a Follow-Up Assignment in Deep Dives? (link to new article)