By Lauren Sproule, TLS staff writer
From participation marks to in-class quizzes, post-secondary educators have tried a number of tactics to strengthen attendance in their classes. But regardless of the methods used to keep students coming to lectures, Professor Maria DeRosa will tell you that sometimes “things happen” that make it impossible for a student to get to class.
DeRosa, a professor in Carleton’s Department of Chemistry and Institute of Biochemistry, teaches a number of courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Her typical class size ranges from small seminars of about 40 students to larger lectures of 150. She stresses that while attendance is beneficial to all of her students, it is necessary for the success of the upper-year courses she teaches, although she says she doesn’t take attendance.
“I try to make the class engaging and I hope that the students will attend,” she says.
DeRosa uses lecture capture for her second- and third-year courses because she says it is beneficial for all students, regardless of whether they were in class. She says it’s an excellent review tool for the students who were able to attend, and it fills the gaps for those who couldn’t.
“In the past, I’ve left information off of slides and said that you have to come to class to figure out this or that. But I’ve stopped doing that because it didn’t affect attendance and students just suffered,” says DeRosa. “Now, I provide the captures, and I find that the class is still full and when they come to me with questions it isn’t, ‘Tell me what I missed last class.’ It is, ‘I’m not clear on concept x or y because of z.’”
DeRosa says she uses in-class polls for engagement that show about 60 per cent of her class is present at any given lecture.
“That hasn’t changed now that I post the captures,” she adds.
Another instructor who makes use of a polling system is Andrew Robinson, who teaches first-year introductory physics to engineering, science and information technology students.
Robinson says he uses the Poll Everywhere clicker system as a pedagogical tool in some classes to “stimulate peer-to-peer learning,” while in other classes use of the clicker is mandatory to determine four per cent of a student’s participation mark.
Like DeRosa, Robinson says there has to be some flexibility when it comes to attendance. He says in some cases there are students who cannot get to his 8:30 a.m. class in time to hand in the assigned question which goes towards their participation grade. In the rare case of someone who deals with issues of finding childcare, for example, Robinson allows students to submit their question by email.
Another tactic Robinson employs is posting lecture slides online prior to class. He says while the slides are not a perfect substitute for coming to class, they have helped to boost attendance, contrary to “anecdotal evidence” amongst faculty that suggests posting slides beforehand suppresses attendance.
“I consider the lecture to be live theatre to some extent, and attendance is preferred,” he says, adding that he considers his classes to be fairly well-attended.
“I do not have midterm exams in my courses; we have a short test every two or three weeks instead.”
However, Robinson says that attendance is markedly worse when students are taking midterms in their other classes.
The best way to support his student’s learning, even if they are absent from class, is by providing ample material in addition to the information introduced in the lectures.
“We have to recognize that not all students may be able to attend,” Robinson says.
What techniques do you use to keep students coming to class? Leave a comment below or let us know at oavptl@carleton.ca.