Attendance: Options and Considerations

Make the Value You Hold For Attendance Explicit

Instructors can minimize student absences through careful course design, adherence to their policies, and communication.

If attendance is important to learning in your course, require it, allowing for some limited number of absences without penalty (the equivalent of two weeks of class — 4 absences if class meets twice a week — is common).

• Any penalties should follow an incremental schedule, for example, a half letter grade for each additional absence. 
• It can be helpful to make clear that managing attendance is students’ prerogative and responsibility — no doctor’s or other notes required or desired.

The point of expecting and requiring attendance is to maximize student learning, which students do not always realize. They need to know it’s not just another hoop they have to jump through.

Although emergencies or illness account for some student absences, if you are experiencing high levels of absenteeism it may be that boredom and general lack of interest are the cause. Students may be wondering if the class session is an essential element of learning.

Some tips for supporting strong attendance by increasing class activity:

• Avoid lessons that merely repeat material from text or homework assignments.
• Create lessons for in-person days that encourage questioning, discussion, and hands-on engagement.
• Give credit for course engagement which can be a simple daily exit ticket, small group activity, or other form of active learning or “doing” in the class.
• Get students moving: if the classroom allows, try to get students moving either in group work or roundtable discussions.
• If a class is particularly reluctant to speak, try activities that get students communicating without speaking: students can write on paper and pass ideas to other students to generate discussion or work on a Google Doc together.

With that said, demonstrating empathy while being clear about your expectations is important. Be strategic with developing the tone of your communication. That is, your communication can be compassionate and foster a rigorous academic experience. Much like the classic “praise sandwich” approach to offering feedback on student work — positive, criticism, positive –, we recommend an empathy sandwich if students have missed class or work. That is, start with understanding and compassion, then indicate what you will provide and what you expect, and close with a positive, resilience-focused message.

Establish a System for Missed Work

• Decide note-sharing policies for the class and whether an absent student reaches out to peers or the professor for notes; set protocols for submitting work; offer extra resources (e.g. CAST/tutoring or student hours).
• Provide students with extensions. Have a clear policy on extensions: how should students request them? do they have a number of “things happen” extensions they can spend over the semester?
• Require students to consult with a University tutor at CAST if their attendance becomes a concern. CAST academic coaches can help students figure out what they need to do to keep up. They can assist students in reading your syllabus, notes, and expectations. To require tutoring, go to the Navigate platform via NEST and “Issue an alert.” Select “Tutoring needed.” This will effectively create a case that a tutor will handle directly, ensuring that you receive an update from the tutor by scrolling down your Navigate homepage to see status updates on the cases you’ve opened.
• Post in-class materials on Canvas. This is potentially useful to all students and certainly useful to students who are absent.  Materials might include:
  • Summaries of the class experience. Tip: Instructors don’t need to write these; individual students can be assigned the task of note-taking, posting notes on a Canvas page
  • Instructor notes, presentation materials, and other hand-outs
• If your classes include collaborative elements that require interacting with others, consider assigning students to attend the Center for Academic Success and Tutoring (CAST), the Center for Writing Excellence (CWE), or even to collaborate with a family member or friend.
• For office hours (often renamed “student hours”), include a Zoom option.

What Not to Do

• Don’t try to assess the validity of students’ requests for absence when they are health-related; don’t provide health advice.
• Don’t discuss absent students with other students. Health information is private.
• Don’t let your empathy send the wrong message. If you write, “No problem! Thanks for letting me know” a student may feel like their absence is covered. Better to write. “I am sorry you will be absent but understand these things happen. Please follow up with your classmates and keep up with your work."