Why Make Students Attend Class? The Absence Policy Dilemma

As the fall term winds down, many of us are thinking ahead to the winter and spring, planning courses and refreshing syllabi in anticipation of the coming year. One part of the syllabus design that educators have been grappling with in the post-pandemic era is the attendance policy. COVID-19 disruptions prompted a significant loosening of requirements, shifting student expectations and faculty beliefs about attendance mandates. Many of us are still recalibrating our approach to student absences—and struggling to find a balance between exercising flexibility and ensuring that learners receive the proven benefits of regular class attendance. Each instructor needs to find the appropriate balance for their own course, teaching modality, and pedagogical approach: Drexel University’s absence policy statement honors instructor autonomy in this regard. Below are a few considerations for developing a post-pandemic attendance policy that best supports student learning.

Alignment with learning goals

Whether or not physical presence in class (or synchronous presence in a Zoom meeting) is essential to achieving a course’s learning goals differs widely from program to program, subject to subject, and class to class. Crafting an appropriate attendance policy begins with considering how it aligns with our learning goals. Why is attendance in my class important? What exactly happens during class time that cannot be replicated outside of class? Might some students be able to successfully meet course learning goals through out-of-class engagement with course material? Is the course based on a relationship-forward pedagogy that cannot succeed without student presence? What balance of flexibility and structure would be optimal for this particular class? For this particular student cohort? Answering these questions for ourselves, ideally with input from the students, is a necessary step in developing a learning-centered attendance policy.

Metacognition

While the reasoning behind our policies may be obvious to us, it is often not at all obvious to our students. Whether we opt for a more flexible or more structured model, we need to explain the rationale to our students. Students are used to viewing absence policies as mechanisms for punishing non-compliance rather than structures for supporting learning, especially if none of their previous instructors emphasized metacognitive development. For example, many students believe that watching a recorded lecture or reviewing a slide deck will result in the same amount of learning as coming to class. Students unfamiliar with the science of learning tend to underestimate the importance of in-class activities (prediction, retrieval, problem-solving, peer-instruction, question-generation, reflection). Learners might also underestimate the significant influence of social belonging on academic success. We can boost both engagement and metacognitive awareness by clearly communicating the why behind our policies, by sharing examples of research on course attendance, and by engaging students in the policy-crafting process.

Logistics

If we do choose to use a policy to mandate (or incentivize) attendance, what might be the best mechanism for achieving our goals? Factoring an attendance score into the final grade calculation? Folding attendance into the class participation score? Offering attendance bonus points in addition to the regular assessment structure? Creating a tiered system where some class sessions are required while others (e.g. sessions focused exclusively on content delivery) might be replaced with alternatives like watching a recording, engaging with a slide show, or completing an online textbook chapter? Or perhaps we prefer to reward attendance indirectly, by offering point-bearing in-class practice opportunities that cannot be replicated outside of class? Some courses might benefit from a flexible menu of in- and out-of-class learning options; others might require regular in-person practice. Sometimes honing on the most appropriate policy might take several tries, so it’s always a good idea to talk to colleagues about their approaches and brainstorm models together.

Tone

Even the strictest attendance policy can be communicated in a respectful, learner-centered manner. Simple tweaks like replacing deficit-based statements (“students will lose 10 points for each missed class”) with asset-based ones (“you can earn 10 points for each class you attend”) can make a difference. A more ambitious revision might take time to explain the course’s pedagogical underpinnings, articulate the benefits of active and collaborative learning, and express commitment to building a diverse community of knowledge-makers. A policy that says, “we are here to learn together; your presence is an asset; your voice matters” is more likely to inspire and motivate than a cut-and-dry recitation of prohibitions.

While course absence policies might provide a mechanism for encouraging (or enforcing) class attendance, students are more likely to show up if they perceive class time as intellectually and socially valuable. Fostering a relationship-rich learning environment and providing regular opportunities for in-class practice, collaboration, feedback, and reflection can go a long way towards improving student attendance (and engagement!) regardless of the official policy printed in the syllabus.