that was the right thing to do, all students must be held responsible for their own actions and the instructor being called the blame is not fair
Hi Yolanda,
Good comments. I believe that we must do all that we can as instructors to develop rapport with our students and to help them succeed. The rest is up to them. They are adults, they want the training, they have career goals, and they are accountable. I set for my classes the standards of business and industry so their attendance or lack thereof will reflect on their career success. Sad to say, they may not make it in the course, but they made that decision, not the instructor or the college. I have had students drop out, think about it, develop some self-discipline and then come back with great success.
Gary
Sally, the first time I taught in a career college I was so exhausted from students who did not attend regularly. I found myself behind in grading and having to do extra work at night. I made a decision to stop because I was not serving their needs by not holding them accountable.
Hi Lisa,
You are right about attendance and employment. The "soft skills" meaning showing up on time, working well with others, being clean and neat all factor into employment. 80% of the jobs are lost as a result of not having soft skills.
You are going to have a challenge as long as attendance is not tied to work completion. The incentive to attend is lost when they can make up work. I do offer various motivation things to get my students to both attend and complete work. It works for the most part well, but I do have students that do not perform well. Sad to say after trying many different supports they do not complete the program. It is based upon their personal decisions and discipline. Both of which as you know are tied to successful employment.
Gary
Forum 2-I teach medical assistants and attendance and participation is 10% of their grade. I try to stress what a hardship it is for other coworkers in a medical setting when one is out. Our college requires a 91% attendance rate each module and right now I am not meeting that with my students.We allow them to make up work for missed days,therefore often having little consequence in hurting their grade. I NEVER remind them of their need to do the work. It is strictly their responsibility to come to me and ask. In the "real world" poor attendance does not sit well with an employer.
Hi Jennie,
I appreciate your comments about absent students. You have clear expectations and you spell them out. You also explain what the consequences are if a student does not meet a deadline.
I use the same approach since as you mention these are adults and are being trained to enter their career field of choice. I know I want my students to reflect well on how they were trained so that other employers will want to hire my graduates.
Gary
One of the ways that the school I teach for has addressed the issue of absent students is to include minimal makeup assignments in the syllabus for the course. These assignments must be submitted to the instructor prior to the next class. They were developed to take at least as much effort from the student as there would have been in class attendance. If these assignments are not submitted by the end of the course, they create an Incomplete grade which can become a failing grade.
Personally, I go over my expectations for absenses and makeup assignments on the first day of class. I do have students who must be absent for work-related assignments as well as for personal issues like illness or family illness. I tell the students that they must notify me of their absense, preferrably in advance; but if that is not possible, then as soon as they can after the missed class. If I do not hear from them, I send an email to make sure that they are okay and that they understand that they have a makeup assignment. If they miss the deadline for submitting that, their grade is affected accordingly.
I don't mean to sound harsh, but these are adult learners and they know that there are consequences for their actions. Sometimes they just need a realistic reminder.
By the way, I have never had to fail a student for absence-related issues, so I feel this works successfully for me, the school, and my students.
Jennie
Hi Erich,
Well said concerning the fine line between allowing deadlines to be missed and late work to be handed in. Career colleges are training individuals to be successful in their areas and thus they need to have an understanding of what the "true" requirements are of their work. This means for the major part being responsible and competent. We need to be firm on helping students to reach this level of competence. To do less is to short change the students. That being said we must also handle each situation on a case by case basis. This is where our expertise as educators comes in as we handle each situation.
Gary
I absolutely agree!
What we deal with in career colleges is significantly two-fold. The first side of things must be considered in the cognitive sense. Students must be able to facilitate presenting material in the evaluatory form to show that they have gained the knowledge required for the course. The affective side of things, or the professionalism, dictates that as you said, students are indeed responsible for themselves.
In that, there is a fine line between assisting and hand-holding. Reminding students of their obligations is acceptable; you are their instructor. Giving them the tools to complete the task is acceptable. I think the line comes in with deadlines and content of the returned project or assigment. These seem to be a bit more firm in the grander scheme of preparing the student for the real world.
Thanks!!
~Erich
I relly feel like each student is responsible for his or her self. I will try to talk to the student so we can come up with a solution. If the problem continues to exist we will take further action, which is not a good ideal.
I relly feel like each student is responsible for his or her self. I will try to talk to the student so we can come up with a solution. If the problem continues to exist we will take further action, which is not a good ideal.
Sally:
Yes I rally agree with Dr. Gary. " You are responsible for your self " is the good methods to keep the students in the class. But I used to call my student who is absent same day and try to find out the cause. If absence is due to sickness I used to ask the students for make up.
It helps a lot. I have a good retention of students.
Hi Sally,
I wish I had a good suggestion on this one. I am like you in that I remind the absent students of what they missed and what they must do to catch up. I keep a record of the reminder contacts I have with the students so they can't say I didn't try to inform them of the missed work. For those that don't follow up I let fate take its' course. One of the lessons of life is that "you are responsible for yourself" when it comes to the real world. I have found that this approach will help the majority of students that miss to get with the program. Not to be hard (I want all of my students to pass) but I let the other students fail if that is there choice. That to is a lesson in life since when they are working and they don't come to work or do the job they get fired. It is easier for them to learn this lesson while in school rather when they are working.
Gary
