Design: Eliminating no-name papers

Today's post is part of a series discussing how educational design is, or is not, or can be adapted to the humanity of the end-user.  See the introductory post here.

Possibly the simplest example of end-user design that I've personally undertaken in the classroom:  I was annoyed, as so many teachers are, that students turn in papers without their name on them.  What to do?

You can, as I tried one year, take points off for "no name".  What happened?

(a) Students got angry.  They didn't see the big deal.  (They also didn't have the perspective that five no-name papers in a stack of 60 caused a significant time sink for me.)  The student-teacher relationship frayed - students who already resented that I had power over them, power they only sort-of consented to, felt that I was asserting that power inappropriately and irrationally.

(b) The frequency of no-name papers did not improve.  (Students don't care about points and grades the way most teachers think they do or should.)

Once I observed (b), then my hand was forced: to continue to take off points for no name papers, knowing that the consequence did not have any effect on the issue I was trying to solve, would constitute malpractice in educational design.  It would be using the power granted to me in the classroom to shame students for being, well, people.  People as they are, not people as I want them to be.

This was the genesis of collecting assignments seat-to-seat.  Now, every paper I hand out includes a header at the top saying "Name:________________.  I collect assignments at the beginning of class while students are working on the daily quiz.  The prompt at the top of the page generally is enough of a reminder such that students write their names.  However, I also developed the habit of checking for a name as I pick up the paper.  It's straightforward to whisper - without exasperation or sarcasm - "Mr. Williams, could you please write your name here?"  And Mr. Williams does so quickly, because he wants to get back to the quiz.  Often he mouths a quick apology.  No shame.  No anger.  No strained relationship.

As I mention in the linked post, collecting assignments seat-to-seat has other benefits that address the reality of how students behave.  In particular, I know that even quite honest teenagers will not easily volunteer the fact that they did not finish an assignment.  (They generally won't lie right to a teacher's face, but they will take pains to make the teacher less likely to notice - like they'll bury a half-done assignment near the bottom of a stack.)  Collecting seat-to-seat doesn't provide the opportunity to hide.