Ownership of assignment work in Google Classroom

[ZeldaVet]

We've had an issue where some Google documents attached to an assignment in Classroom were showing as broken links. We determined this could only happen if the student deleted their own work and emptied their bin.

 

We've been asked to investigate how a student can delete their work after it's been marked and judged to be 'completed' by the tutor. Particularly since an external verifier may need to look at these Classrooms at any point in the future.

 

As far as I can tell, this is just the way Classroom is designed. When submitted by the student, the tutor becomes the owner of the doc. When a tutor marks the work it's returned back to the student, even if there's no amendments required of the student. The student once again becomes the owner of the work and can do what they like with it, including deleting it. The tutor can see the doc in their Drive Classroom folder, but this is just a link to the student-owned file. If the student purges their doc, the link is understandably removed.

 

I'm considering recommending tutors never fully mark or return the work to guarantee a submitted assignment can't be lost. But this will likely come with its own problems.

 

Has anyone experienced Google doc ownership problems with Classroom?

 

Thanks.

[Primus]

That won't guarantee anything as a student can unsubmit and then delete it if they want.

 

Use vault to locate the deleted file.

[ZeldaVet]

Good point - they can unsubmit any time. Even after the work has been considered finished.

 

If the deleted doc is discovered within the Vault retention period, then great. But outside of that? We're screwed.

[Primus]

Set your vault retention period to longer - years if necessary provided you discuss this and complete the proper paperwork with your DPO.