When I create my syllabi I attempt to make policies are inclusive and equitable. I don’t want to put students, especially a particular group of students at a disadvantage. That’s why I’ve been mulling over how to word an attendance statement/policy that encourages attendance and is not punitive to those who can’t always attend class.
I want a policy that acknowledges the humanity of students who have lives outside of school. A statement that does not automatically disadvantage students who are parents, have significant mental health struggles or have disabilities.
Attendance Benefits
If I’m being honest with myself, I’m ok if the policy is punitive for students who just don’t show up. However, I don’t want to be in the business of policing student attendance. I don’t collect, nor do I want to collect, documentation for absences (i.e., doctor’s notes, obituaries, etc.).
The trade-off is that students who are just skipping class will “get away with it.”
At the same time I think there are benefits of attendance that can’t easily be replicated. Some of those benefits are:
- real-time language practice in the target language,
- direct feedback right in the moment from classmates and instructor,
- working through complex, higher level application or synthesis activities in a supportive learning community.
My Boundaries
As I set my own boundaries, I am not willing to create a simultaneous hybrid class system (i.e., trying to teach on zoom and in the classroom simultaneously). Recording classroom activities and interactions isn’t a viable solution without a camera person for most of the courses I teach.
Part of learning language is seeing and using it in context. So, if students can’t come in person there isn’t a way for them to “watch it” and catch up. Attending really is in their best interest when there isn’t something preventing them from attending. In my other courses, like linguistics, or introduction to the field that are more content based, recording may be possible.
Honestly, taking attendance just feels like it takes time we could be learning and practicing.
At the essence, I view attendance as a way to support student learning. Not as a requirement for requirement sake. I would like my student’s grades to be primarily based on their ability to meet the student learning outcomes. That is what will set them up for success in future courses.
I have had students who met the learning outcomes of the course even when their attendance was erratic. And sometimes, students who attend every class session are not able to meet all of the learning outcomes.
Previous Policies
I’ve used a range of policies in the past. Some have been departmental level policies that everyone followed. Others were my own inventions. Of course the most current policies have to acknowledge that sometimes students can’t attend because of exposure to COVID.
Even as I’ve tried to center the benefits of attendance, I am not satisfied with any of my previous attempts.
I’ve included some samples and my thoughts about them below.
My Policy based on Department policy
Attendance Policy
Class attendance and active participation are critical to your success in the course and the development of your interpreting skills. If you need assistance in figuring out how to resolve a problem that hinders your attendance or active participation, please see your instructor.
Department Attendance Policy
- Four (4) absences in a MWF class or three (3) absences in a TR class will drop a student’s grade by one letter. Five (5) absences in a MWF class or four (4) absences in a TR class will result in an F course grade.
- Students may request consideration for absences in writing as soon as reasonably possible (preferably before the absence). An adequate and documented reason for an absence may be excused, or not, at the instructor’s discretion. Adequate reasons include circumstances beyond the student’s control, such as personal illness, critical illness or death in the immediate family, or participation in an approved University activity.
All absences count as absences. Excused means that you may submit the work for that day. At the instructor’s discretion this policy may be modified upon written request for students demonstrating responsible and reasonable handing when absences are necessary.
Problems with this Attendance policy
There are a couple of things i don’t like about this policy. First it requires me as a faculty member to police student attendance. I have to keep up with attendance. And I have determine if a student’s absence was legitimate enough to not count against the student.
Additionally, this policy requires that students share private information to convince the instructor the absence excused.
This policy does adhere to the institutional policy that indicates students should not miss more than 10% of class sessions. Some people may argue that this policy sets students up for “the real world.” In the era of knowledge workers and unlimited PTO policies, I don’t think these policies like parallel post graduation.
Graduates will have to manage their attendance in ways that allow them to sufficiently perform their duties. And they’ll likely do those jobs better if they’re attending key meetings with stakeholders.
Bottom line: This me to police attendance and determining if the reason for an absence was legitimate.
Attendance as a Carrot
In a content-based course I teach, I have used attendance as a carrot for increasing the final course grade. The course is based, primarily, on course exams. Students who completed 90% of preparation assignments and attend 95% of class sessions raised their grade by one letter. If I were in a +/- grading system I would have just added a +.
Problems with the Carrot Attendance Policy
I don’t think this policy has had any impact on attendance. It has caused some students stress about attendance when they legitimately had reasons they needed to miss class. Leaving me still navigating individual situations.
It’s possible that a more lenient attendance policy would encourage attendance. This policy likely set the bar at almost unattainable levels except for a few students. At the same time, it still has me as the faculty member determining if each absence counted against the attendance grade. In my mind, if you’re not in class you’re absent. 🤷♀️ So, excused vs. unexcused do not make sense since I don’t have assignments to be made up if you’re not in class.
Attendance as Direct Points toward Grade
In other attempts to create attendance policies, I’ve given a point or two for each day of attendance.
I’ve done this a few different ways. Sometimes the points I use to calculate the final grade is lower than the points possible if a student attends every day. This provides allowance for some absences without negatively impacting the course grade.
During COVID, I allowed students to earn the point by chatting and practicing with a classmate (or tutor) to catch up on what was missed.
Attendance Policy
This course is a highly interactive, performance-based class that continually builds new skills on previously learned skills. Significant language learning cannot happen apart from your learning community. Our learning community depends on each of you being actively involved. Regular class attendance and participation is expected of all students. Students should make every effort to attend every class session and fully participate with the learning activities throughout the week.
Students who are ill or who have been exposed to a COVID + or potential COVID + person should not attend face-to-face classes. When personal illness, family emergencies or other unforeseeable situations prevent class attendance, you should inform the instructor in advance (if possible) and work with a classmate to get caught up.
Because life comes up and you may need to miss class at times, I have created a way for you to “make-up” a session. This should only be used when necessary since it does not effectively replace a class session. If you are not able to attend live, you may earn the attendance point for that session by meeting with a classmate to catch up on what you missed. You must submit notes and a short video from your discussion and practice session with your classmate. These notes must be submitted to the designated assignment area in Canvas and must include the date missed in the submitted document. If notes are not submitted to the required location and/or do not have the date of the missed session an attendance point will not be awarded.
I’ve also used this approach when using specifications grading. A specified % of attendance points are required for each grade.
Problems with my Direct Points Attendance Policies
This policy has similar issues as the ones above that require me as the faculty member to deal with lots of individual requests for exceptions to attendance. The ability of students to make up the points by chatting with a classmate was supposed to make things easier for me. However, often students could not find a classmate to fill them in on what they missed. This policy had differential impact on less social students.
What I’m Considering for Fall
Here’s a draft of what I’m considering for my fall syllabi. I’ll be teaching 2 different courses. Both courses are language learning courses, where most of class time is spent in activities and conversation practicing vocabulary, grammatical structures, and conversational behaviors.
Attendance
This course is a highly interactive, performance-based class that continually builds new skills on previously learned skills. Significant language learning is difficult apart from your learning community; therefore, regular class attendance and participation is expected of all students.
Because life comes up and you may need to miss class session, attendance does not directly impact your grade.
- I will track attendance in Canvas so I can reach out to students who do not regularly attend class.
- If you miss class, you will miss the opportunity to review vocabulary with support, practice conversational skills, and receive direct feedback from the instructor on your performance.
- There is not an adequate way to “make-up” missed classroom practice. Attending tutoring sessions at the LASSO center and/or working with a classmate is encouraged.
Remote Attendance: Due to the hands on, visual, and interactive nature of the course, remote attendance is not possible for individual cases. In the case of COVID exposures or inclement weather (when the university is open) the instructor may move the entire class session to remote-Zoom learning. Check Canvas announcements daily for updates.
Update – End of Fall 2023
I used this policy for 3 courses for the Fall 2023 semester.
For two class this policy worked great. In a class with 19 students, a couple of students did not miss any days during the entire semester. Most students missed one or two days. Some missed 3-4 days. And a couple of students missed significantly more than 3-4 days. Generally the students in this course kept up with the assigned work – even when they were missing class. Those who did not submit work on time, communicated with me regularly and asked for extensions.
The other class it worked for was a very small enrollment course that was set up seminar style – like a book club really. A couple of students missed one day of class throughout the semester.
For my other course, this attendance policy was an utter failure. This class had small enrollment. We did not have a single day (after the first day) where every student was in attendance. This was a language proficiency course; so, this negatively impacted the learning activities in the course. Multiple days there were only a couple of students who attended. Several students missed more than half of the days of class. For one student, missing a few classes put the student behind and then it was difficult to catch up and know what was going on in the classroom (we use the target language in the class).
I’ll revise the policy again for the Spring ’24 semester. I’ll report back when I’ve decided. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you’ll be writing for your attendance policy. We’ll be discussing it over in my Facebook community.