should we grade attendance?
When I was teaching at a university in Tijuana, I went to a workshop where we talked about giving students a certain grade for perfect attendance. Some professors didn´t agree. It was a complex issue.
In my teacher training we have some issues about students coming in late. When trainees practice, they have to let students come in late. We reflect on our teaching practices every morning. One of the trainees mentioned that even in the input session, they come in late sometimes. I told trainees that a lot of those issues have to do with schools policies.
My question is..should we reward those students who go to class and are in time all the time or should we just take that for granted and focus on participation instead?
looking forward for some input
Rodolfo
I think that attendance certainly has a place in the grading scheme. In a purely online course, if discussion/participation is required, not participating should be penalized and input should be rewarded. In a hybrid course, coming to ground sessions does matter -- and is worthy of points. I don't think, though, that missing a session (or a small number of online discussions) should be castigated.
students that miss time due to just not wanting to come to class are likely to be less motivated in other areas as well like work ethics
Yes....I would do the same ........make them want to attend with some fun rewards for each section taught
This is tough one and is also debated among the faculty at my school. We do count attendance and being on time. The students have a consequence only after attendance/lateness has reached a 15% value. Then, there is a slight grade reduction. In an online class, there has to be some accountability for attendance that should be laid out in the intro to the class, in my opinion.
I think that both extreme (too low or high ratio) can defeat the purpose of student participation. Too many students can prevent an in-depth discussion and too few will lack the breath of the discussion
Stephani,
Do you have a preference toward grading or not in your hybrid class? Why or why not? Thank you for your contribution.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
I teach a class that is both in class and online. Both are required components of my teaching the course so I do find this topic interesting. Thank you.
I think we grade attendance by virtue of students missing information and not contributing it to their assignments. I make it abundantly clear what I want discussed and students lose a lot of points if I don't see it discussed.
Hi Deborah, we don't consider logging into the course engaged, so we do not give credit to learners for logging in. They have to actively engage in discussions or submit assignments to be considered active in the course. Tina
I think this is one of the hardest things to keep track of when it comes to online classes. It seems like it would be too easy for students to slip between the cracks and not participate.
Are we grading attendance or are we grading learning? If we are grading learning, then attendance should not be graded. I am of the belief that you need to do more than attend class to actually learn the required material (read the textbook, participate in discussions, complete assignments as required).
Students who are in class and on time are more likely to understand what is actually going on....you may have already gone over something vital that that student needed to hear. I believe they should be graded on attendence ....as in the real world- if you come to work late everyday , your likely to be fired, right??!!! That should make then think!!
I think grading attendance is importnant. When a student is late, it is very disruptive to the whole class. I have had classes where you were counted absent if you were more than 5 minutes late and if you were absebsent x number of classes you failed the class. We were all in class and we were all on time :)
I agree with the fact that attendance should count for something. While demonstrating mastery of the content or at least proficiency is key, the fact that the effort is being put forth should also count. However, I understand the that "how" we should do it may be difficult to work out. Although, I find it hard to believe that with all of the elaborate technology we have today, that there isn't someone out there who has already figured out a way to do this (other than looking at the content of assignments to gauge understanding).
Colleen:
Please share with us how you would track "attendance" in an online environment.
Satrohan
Attendance is so important, how can one learn if not present. If a student is not going to attend class how are they going to prepare for the workforce. If there are ground rules stated from the start and consistant with all learning, I see the student who wants a good grade adhering to attendance also.
Both, or whatever is required in the class.
Josefer:
lease advise whether participation in Asynchronous Discussion forums fall into your category of "participation" or you are referring only to participation in Chat sessions.
Satrohan
The whole issue of grading for participation has been a big point of debate where I work. Some instructors like it and some don’t. Generally I do not give participation points, since I have found it difficult to find an entirely objective method of doing this. Is there some type of rubric that can be used to allocate participation points in an equitable manner?
