In my Perception class, students are allowed (actually, encouraged) to decorate the cover page of their lab assignments. My TA and I pick out the best two or three, and I hand those back personally in class. (Last term, the class even clapped for the chosen ones.) If your cover is chosen, you won't have to rummage through the piles of labs to find yours--it's hand-delivered to you in your seat. Like you're in a luxury box at Rexall Place or something. Hey, you earned it!
For those that aren't chosen, however, there still can be a benefit. If your cover really stands out, that makes it a lot easier to find among the sea of plain white cover pages. And, as an extra side benefit, this is an application of the visual attentional phenomenon of popout. Eh? Eh? Clever, huh?
I promised my class this term that I'd post some photos of the best cover pages from last term. Some recent covers were so memorable that I took pictures of them with my phone. My dumbphone. Because it's not a smartphone, see? Plus: I'm mad at my dumb dumbphone. I don't have any pictures to show because my 0.3 megapixel dumbphone took the world's worst pictures of cover pages. No, really--some of them were so blurry even I didn't know what some of them were. Me, photoshopped to look like Han Solo? Actual Halloween candies taped to the cover? No, maybe it's a LOLcat. So, sorry about that.
Anyway, here are some dos and don'ts for cover pages:
- origami: it's just going to get squashed and ripped--forget it
- macaroni: frowned upon--what, are you still in grade 2?
- fusilli: ah, now you're talking--can you make a fusilli Jerry? (no bonus marks for that)
- glitter: past TAs have nixed glitter and sequins--glitter glue may be okay, but ask first
- $5 bills: no, no, no--the university says that money must not be submitted with assignments (just drop it off at the Provost's office)
- drawings/sketches: if you have the time, patience, and ability to actually draw something, well, I've got a soft spot for that
I never made any cover pages for my assignment. They were so easy to find in that big pile; I would just look for the one with no cover page.
@Anonymous: That's not the easiest way to find your lab. The easiest way is to stay in your seat and wait while everyone else goes up and jostles and rummages for theirs. Then, when everyone's gone, go up and get your lab. It will be one of a handful that are left on the table.
It's even easier if you don't hand one in; you don't have to find it after.