I learned early in my online teaching career that it is imperative to have hard deadlines for assignments. My second semester teaching I had 34 students in my communications class. Each week students had to complete three assignments as well as participate in three discussion boards. Assuming I could structure the homework deadlines similar to my campus classes I allowed students to hand in assignments late but they received a two percent grade deduction. The morning before I had to have all assignments graded I logged on to find I had 130 assignments waiting to be graded. Needless to say that weekend was a nightmare and I learned a very valuable lesson.