Attendance and Learning

Attendance and Learning

Educators and students around the globe, debate the matter of attendance policies in educational institutions. Is mandatory attendance a contributor to learning or does it have none or adverse implications on learning outcomes?

Instructors and Institutions expect students to attend class. Research has shown a positive correlation between student attendance and their grades. Students are paying the high costs of education and hope to gain skills for their future workplace. It is imperative that they attend classes to understand the course material and gain knowledge. In an institute of higher education specifically, attendance is a means of maintaining discipline in academics. Since higher education is a stepping stone to workplaces, a well defined attendance policy paves way for more responsible individuals in the professional sphere as well.

A more strict attendance policy could be a combination of rewards and penalties e.g.  encourage by rewarding points for higher attendance or penalize for missing classes, will lead to higher attendance. However, the bone of contention lies in the fact, that is a reward system enough to push students into attending class? Or will a penalty system force students to attend class but actually hamper learning?

Classroom learning is an important part of the college experience! A well attended classroom will in turn lead to students across various intellectual capacities engaging in discussions and sharing opinions. Engaging in discussions and class participation in an unemotional way, questioning one’s own beliefs is an important part of developing critical thinking skills.

Using a “stick” approach and forcing students to attend lectures might improve attendance but not necessarily learning. A more engaged classroom combined with a balanced attendance policy might be a better option in our opinion. nClass, with its automated attendance with no room for human error, is a tool suited well to both firm and lenient attendance policies.

 

What do you think about the relationship between attendance policies and learning? Let us know in the comments below.