Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I don't know if this is the right place to ask this but I can't find anyplace on the forum that seems better. I need to determine the creation date of a file that was emailed to me by a student. The date stamp I see when I look using the file name in my temporary folder is the date/time I downloaded the file. Does anyone know if there's a way to see the date/time the file was created by the student? (I use gmail BTW) I have a student claiming I lost a paper of his and when I asked him to resend it to me it took several days of nagging to get it. He just didn't have TIME to attach the file to an email and send it (he did not resend the original email as requested. He claims he deleted it.).
It's a word file attached to an email.
I stand accused of 1) losing the hard copy of his report AND 2) accidentally (or maybe on purpose just to get him, I don't know) deleting his electronic copy (What are the odds I'd lose BOTH for the same student? ) I believe he never did the report the first time and would love to prove that the file he just sent was just written. Unfortunately, I can't see a time stamp on the file in my email and when I download it with word it puts in a creation time/date as the time/date I downloaded the file. I'm probably out of luck here and my admins won't support me even though the odds are insurmountable that I lost BOTH copies. In my school the parent wins unless the teacher has absolute proof.
I agree that it is pretty suspicious. First he claims that you, the teacher, lost both the hard copy and the digital copy, in addition he can't show you that he sent a copy to you because he deleted the sent email AND it took several days for him to "find the time" to resend the report to you.
Hmmm, pretty suspicious. Perhaps, you should add something to next semester's syllabus about students keeping documentation of the date and time that a file was sent until after the grades are recorded.
I agree that it is pretty suspicious. First he claims that you, the teacher, lost both the hard copy and the digital copy, in addition he can't show you that he sent a copy to you because he deleted the sent email AND it took several days for him to "find the time" to resend the report to you.
Hmmm, pretty suspicious. Perhaps, you should add something to next semester's syllabus about students keeping documentation of the date and time that a file was sent until after the grades are recorded.
I hope that it works out.
I definitely will. His mom told me (in a threatening manner ) that SHE is going to keep a copy of all of his work from now on. I told her that was a good idea.
This is the type of assignment that students don't turn in because of the length. I usually see about double the number of missing assignments on this type so this does not surprise me. The accusation however is an issue because my admins will side with the parent unless I have proof. I'm thinking I won't find it. As soon as I open the file from the email, it gets date stamped with the current time/date as the creation time/date. I'm thinking the information I want doesn't travel with the document when it's emailed.
Yes, I will add a disclaimer to my syllabus for next year should this happen again but that doesn't help me now. I didn't warn them. I am certain he just wrote it. Mom was supposed to email the file earlier in the week then when I sent a reminder email yesterday asking for it yesterday I got told, curtly, that he will not have time to send it until today. He finally sent it just before 6:00 PM. My guess is it was written today but I'm not allowed to make that accusation without proof. If I had access to his computer I could look at the creation date/time but I don't.
I hate this accusation above all because I cannot prove I didn't lose something I never saw. It's my word against the student's word and my admins will take the student's word every day of the week.
This isn't my worst case. My first year teaching I was accused of losing ALL of a student's work. The principal, who was a great principal, came up with the solution of having the student turn work into a folder in the office. Then they accused me of breaking into the office and stealing her work just to prove she wasn't doing it. So we went to she had to hand it to the principal. She never did but they stopped saying I was deliberately losing/stealing her work. Some parents have a rose colored face shield on when it comes to their children. It CAN'T be that my child didn't turn something in. No, it's far more likely that the teacher lost the hard copy AND deleted the electronic copy before grading it. Yup.
12-13-2014, 10:00 PM
i7pXFLbhE3gq
n/a posts
Open the document in word, go to file, click on Properties, then Advanced Properties, then Statistics. That should have the actual creation date.
Just checked it on a document I was e-mailed this week and it shows a creation date back in November, which sounds about right.
Open the document in word, go to file, click on Properties, then Advanced Properties, then Statistics. That should have the actual creation date.
Just checked it on a document I was e-mailed this week and it shows a creation date back in November, which sounds about right.
Thanks but that was the first thing I tried. It gives me a file creation date of the time of the download. I have no idea how you're seeing a file creation date from back in November. Once I open the file, it's downloaded to my temp directory and the time stamp is the time of the download. I tried it multiple times to make sure that is what was happening. I need a way to see the time stamp without opening the file or downloading it to my computer. It is possible the information was stripped but I really don't think this kid is that smart. I didn't know you could even do that until I was trying to find his creation date.
According to word, I'd need to be on the file save server to see the original creation date from Word. I'm not sure how you're seeing an earlier date. Word also says that the modification date should not change but it is. It may be my version of word. Can I ask which version of Word you have? I know we're using different versions because I have to use the office button and prepare to find properties. I don't even see "file" as a choice. Maybe I just need to find a computer with a different version of word. I have 2007 on this computer and whatever the latest is on my school computer BTW. The instructions for finding the creation date I found on line are for 2006.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 12-14-2014 at 08:25 AM..
You should be able to open the file directly from your email before downloading it. Then do an advanced properties search for the creation date.
However there are ways to change the original creation date if your student if technologically proficient.
I suspect the student is lying.
My kids High School uses Turnitin.com.
That's what I'm doing. What I'm seeing as the creation date is the time I opened it. My computer is picking up the date on the file that goes into my temp directory when I open it.
Yes, I suspect he's lying too AND mom knows it. As I said in another post, we're getting close to the end of the semester so now it's time for the helicopter parents to come out of the bat cave and circle around their young. Mommy wants to fix what her son screwed up so his GPA isn't hurt.
It has to be my version of word that is the issue here. I've had other people tell me they can see file creation dates too but when I went to Word's help page, it said I needed to be on the file server where the original file was stored. Everything I have on my computer shows a creation date of the day I downloaded it if it came from someone else.
This is annoying. I know this kid is lying and I can't prove it. I am going to only give partial credit but my admins will not back that if mom goes to them. In their opinion it's not WHEN a student does the work it's THAT they did the work only when matters because the graded reports have been handed back so all this kid has to do is copy the correct answers from someone else's report and he has a perfect report. Only the part that goes through the plagiarism checker needs to be different.
I think my only hope right now is that my school computer has a different version of Word. I know it does because I get a pop up every time I save a file I didn't create on it telling me about lost functionality. Cross your fingers that that version lets me see the creation date.
If the student changed the date and time and his computer, say a few days prior to the due date, and then saved the document, it would contain the fudged date as the creation date.
So, there probably isn't any way you'll know for sure.
I'm sorry that you're going through this. Do you feel comfortable asking the student to send a screenshot of the document's statistics?
In order to avoid this problem in the future, you should mark who turns things in and who doesn't. And as far losing the digital copy, have them turn it in on turnitin.com
Open the document in word, go to file, click on Properties, then Advanced Properties, then Statistics. That should have the actual creation date.
Just checked it on a document I was e-mailed this week and it shows a creation date back in November, which sounds about right.
With Word 2007 (and probably newer versions as well), the actual creation date is buried a bit deeper.
Open the file
Click Office Button | Prepare | Properties
In the upper left of the window, just below the ribbon, there should be a drop-down button labeled Document Properties. Click that button, then click Advanced Properties...
A Properties window will open. Click on the Statistics tab.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
) I believe he never did the report the first time and would love to prove that the file he just sent was just written. Unfortunately, I can't see a time stamp on the file in my email and when I download it with word it puts in a creation time/date as the time/date I downloaded the file. I'm probably out of luck here and my admins won't support me even though the odds are insurmountable that I lost BOTH copies. In my school the parent wins unless the teacher has absolute proof. 
So we went to she had to hand it to the principal. She never did but they stopped saying I was deliberately losing/stealing her work. Some parents have a rose colored face shield on when it comes to their children. It CAN'T be that my child didn't turn something in. No, it's far more likely that the teacher lost the hard copy AND deleted the electronic copy before grading it. Yup. 
