Re: behaviorism and attendance
In a message dated 12/12/2002 12:13:49 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: that if a human organism is expected to be controlled by the contingencies in effect, he/she must understand the contingencies and the relationship between their behavior and its consequences. I am not convinced that that is the case with many of my students. Rip-- Where is this given? There is plenty of literature showing that control by contingencies is separable from the discrimination and verbal report of those contingencies. My students demonstrate this in lab exercises with naive human subjects every semester! What I mean is, I don't believe that the contingencies impact them consciously, unconsciously, or in any other way because of their behavioral history and the wall it puts between us. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: behaviorism and attendance
But I think they are responding to contingencies - to faculty who have passed them along, to getting good grades for slipshod projects, to always being saving from bad consequences. They are using confirmation bias, focusing on the contingencies that worked out well for them and ignoring or treating as anomalies, the instructors who didn't let them slide or demanded real work from them. After all, they've gotten into, and are still in, College, so their crummy behaviors are working. I think they have gotten enough reinforcement that these behaviors will work and that's what really bothers me. Vinny Vincent Prohaska, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Chair Department of Psychology Lehman College, City University of New York Bronx, NY 10468-1589 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 718-960-8204 718-960-8092 fax --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: behaviorism and attendance
In a message dated 12/13/2002 3:06:29 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: But I think they are responding to contingencies - to faculty who have passed them along, to getting good grades for slipshod projects, to always being saving from bad consequences. They are using confirmation bias, focusing on the contingencies that worked out well for them and ignoring or treating as anomalies, the instructors who didn't let them slide or demanded real work from them. After all, they've gotten into, and are still in, College, so their crummy behaviors are working. I think they have gotten enough reinforcement that these behaviors will work and that's what really bothers me. Vinny Vinny has made the point I wanted to make. I don't think many of us can reverse these habits developed over years within a semester. For some of them, I am just another brick in the wall. Rip Pisacreta, Ph.D. Professor, Psychology Ferris State University "Don't take yourself too seriously. We're all bozos on this bus" --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: behaviorism and attendance
It is a given that if a human organism is expected to be controlled by the contingencies in effect, he/she must understand the contingencies and the relationship between their behavior and its consequences. I am not convinced that that is the case with many of my students. Their behavioral history is such that whatever effort they made in elementary, middle, junior high and high school, they were passed along, or given last minute opportunities to raise their grade, regardless of attendance. Many perceive college as a glorified high school and act accordingly. I offer the four big mysteries in academic life as data to support this hypothesis. 1- The kid with the 59% average who does not show up to take an optional final although they need only a 70% on it to pass the course. (Some have told me that they expected me to give them the point and pass them). 2- The kid who would need 250% on the final who does show up. 3- The senior who aims for the minimum grade of 60% to pass and misses it by 1-2 points thus not graduating. 4- I post grades on my office door. Every semester, a few come to me during the last week of class to ask me where the grades are posted indicating that they never looked before and have no idea what their test scores were up until this point. No matter how detailed my syllabi are spelling out contingencies, they don't register, or are forgotten in 24 hours. Another variable that I think is important is that the school tells them through the newspaper that we have a 93% placement rate among graduates (they never say they got jobs in their major). The students make that assumption, look around and see juniors and seniors dabbling in their education and assume that they too will be all right. Rip Pisacreta --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: behaviorism and attendance
At 11:48 AM -0500 12/12/02, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: It is a given that if a human organism is expected to be controlled by the contingencies in effect, he/she must understand the contingencies and the relationship between their behavior and its consequences. I am not convinced that that is the case with many of my students. Rip-- Where is this given? There is plenty of literature showing that control by contingencies is separable from the discrimination and verbal report of those contingencies. My students demonstrate this in lab exercises with naive human subjects every semester! -- * PAUL K. BRANDON [EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Psychology Dept Minnesota State University, Mankato * * 23 Armstrong Hall, Mankato, MN 56001 ph 507-389-6217 * *http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/psych/welcome.html* --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: behaviorism and attendance
What is a PSI unit/ master system? Riki Koenigsberg, PhD --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: behaviorism and attendance
At 7:35 AM -0500 12/3/02, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: What is a PSI unit/ master system? Verrry briefly: Material is divided into brief sequential units. Students work on a unit until they master it at an 'A' level of comprehension, then move on to the next unit. Grades are based on the number of units mastered in sequence at an 'A' level. I've got links to my syllabi and to a good Web site on my Web page. -- * PAUL K. BRANDON [EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Psychology Dept Minnesota State University, Mankato * * 23 Armstrong Hall, Mankato, MN 56001 ph 507-389-6217 * *http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/psych/welcome.html* --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: behaviorism and attendance
Hi On Mon, 2 Dec 2002, Hetzel, Rod wrote: I've pasted a copy of my attendance policy below. I would like to switch to a policy that doesn't deduct points for being absent. That seems awfully parental to me and not something that optimally prepares students for the adult world that awaits them after graduation. I'm thinking of developing a policy that reinforces good behavior (attending class) rather than punishes bad behavior (skipping class). Anyone have any good ideas for doing this? I would be interested in reading your attendance policies if you feel inclined to share. Looking forward to your responses. Some thoughts: 1. Present material in class that cannot be obtained in other ways. Students sharing notes makes this not completely certain. 2. Consider including some surprise quizzes during class time. 3. Tell students that attendance has been shown to correlate with better grades in courses, or Don't tell them and just let the natural consequences (i.e., poorer performance) prevail. 4. Give certain percentage of marks for class participation. Perhaps depends on type of class and size. 5. Tell yourself that university students are adults and if they attend class and do well, then great, and if not, then too bad for them. My personal preference. Best wishes Jim James M. Clark (204) 786-9757 Department of Psychology(204) 774-4134 Fax University of Winnipeg 4L05D Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED] CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: behaviorism and attendance
Rod wrote: I've pasted a copy of my attendance policy below. I would like to switch to a policy that doesn't deduct points for being absent. That seems awfully parental to me and not something that optimally prepares students for the adult world that awaits them after graduation. I'm thinking of developing a policy that reinforces good behavior (attending class) rather than punishes bad behavior (skipping class). Anyone have any good ideas for doing this? I would be interested in reading your attendance policies if you feel inclined to share. Looking forward to your responses. ** Rod, I used to be at a school where we were not allowed to have an attendance policy. There, I used pop extra-credit quizzes. I told students that they would never know when there would be a quiz, but that there would be one at least once a week. I gave these at the very beginning of class; latecomers could not take them. They were just 4 MC-questions and were on either the assigned reading for the day or the previous lecture. (I was also trying to reinforce good study techniques.) Each quiz was worth 1 extra credit point toward the final course grade. After taking them, students would trade papers and we would go over them. This also served as review of previously covered material. (Then, someone complained about trading papers, so I stopped that part.) Even though there was up to 10 points worth of extra credit to final grade, it never worked out that I gave that much (usually, it would be 3-5 points). And, I never had problems with a grade distribution being too high. Now, I am at a school that encourages attendance policies and I have gone to a policy much like yours. However, I am rethinking that. Of course, you would think that if material covered in class is substantially different from the book, that would be reinforcement enough, but it doesn't seem to be. Students seem more tied in to points than knowledge (which shows up as points later on). I look forward to hearing about other ideas. Marcia Marcia J. McKinley, J.D., Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology Mount St. Mary's College Emmitsburg, MD 21727 (301) 447-5394 x4282 [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: behaviorism and attendance
Here is the attendance policy that I use in my History of Psych class. I use a points given method. Students get index cards at the beginning of the semester that they must pick up before each class (that is how I take attendance - card not picked up, person not present). If the person participates, they are given a pen, told to write the date and then make a checkmark (I use a bunch of funky ink colors). I am teaching a Tues/Thurs class and have 31 students. If a student shows up, but doesn't participate (or does a group shout of an answer), they get 2 points for that day. If the person actually answers a question (raises hand, doesn't matter if right or wrong, doesn't matter how many questions answered), they get 5 points for that day. I use a different formula for MWF classes. My students can get up to 125 points if they participate every single class period and, if they must miss a class or two, not an issue. However, missing many classes results in not so good a grade. Students can actually see how many times they have missed class and how often they participated (and class participation remains at a very high level). Class Participation. This class is designed to be a capstone senior level course in which you show your understanding of psychology. Course participation is a requirement. You will be graded on your participation level. While I dont require perfect attendance, obviously if you are not here, you are not participating. Part of your grade will be based on class attendance (for those questions everyone shouts out an answer to). However, attendance does not equal participation- that is, for you to earn a good grade in this area means more than showing up and breathing or asking me to explain something over again. When you do make comments, make sure they are relevant to the discussion at hand. You have the questions before class that will be the discussion we will be having. Go through the two books and make an outline of the response that would answer the question. There will be some answers that will not be found in the book but the majority of the information is there. As a rule of thumb, we will cover approximately 2 questions per class time. Make sure to bring your answers and both books to class with you every day. If I must wait more than 5 minutes for an answer to a question because no one in the class has prepared for that answer and everyone is looking up the response in class, then everyone will be responsible for that material on their own time I will not answer any questions about that material outside of class either. Points for class participation: 2 for being in class that day, 5 if actually raised hand and called on 90-100 - Actively participates in almost every class period. 80-90 - Some class participation (has contributed approximately once a week or slightly less). 70-80 - Minimal participation (has contributed a few times to class discussion). 60-70 - Came to class regularly (very few misses) but has only participated once or twice. 60 - Does not attend class regularly and/or has not participated. At 07:28 AM 12/2/2002 -0600, you wrote: Hi TIPSters: I'm in the process of developing syllabi for next semester and wanted to raise once again the issue of attendance policies. In my previous academic position I never had much difficulty with classroom attendance. In fact, I never made attendance mandatory for students. I simply told them that they were expected to be at all class sessions unless some unforeseen emergency came up that prevented them from being in class. A few students took advantage of this policy, but for the most part my students came to class eager and ready to learn. Since taking my new position, however, the issue of attendance has become quite bothersome. The institutional culture here encourages faculty to have attendance policies, so I developed one before my first semester. To my surprise, I found that a large percentage of my students complained on a regular basis about the attendance policies and tried all types of excuses to avoid the consequences of missing classes. This became such a headache that I was considering switching back to my previous attendance policy, but I took a very informal poll and found out that the vast majority of my students reported that they would not attend classes if a professor had no attendance policy. They stated that they would only attend classes on the days of exams. I've asked some other faculty about this and they have reported the same phenomena. My guess is that student complaints about attendance policies are also part of our institutional culture. You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Deb Dr. Deborah S. Briihl Dept. of Psychology and Counseling Valdosta State University Valdosta, GA 31698 (229) 333-5994 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://chiron.valdosta.edu/dbriihl/ Well I know these voices must be my soul... Rhyme and Reason - DMB
Re: behaviorism and attendance
Hetzel, Rod wrote: I'm in the process of developing syllabi for next semester and wanted to raise once again the issue of attendance policies. In my previous academic position I never had much difficulty with classroom attendance. Obvioualy, I cannot speak to the culture at your institution. I have never incorporated attendance requirements into my marking schemes. The students paid for the course. If they think they can do well in the course (whatever level they consider well to be) while not coming to class, then they are free to try. Sometime I give them a warning that it will be difficult to do well without comint to class because material will be presented (in lecture or discussion) that will be difficult to obtain in other ways. Obviously if there is a participation or lab component to the grade, they will be unable to get credit for that if they do not attend, but I do not make it explicitly an attendance mark. Some people who come to class get zero for participation because they sit there like stones. On a more psychological note, giving marks for attendance leads student to come to class because they were made to, rather than learning that there are certain responsibilities they must accept themselves in order to get where they want to go. Finally, having no explicit attendance mark will save you a ton of paperwork and wasted course administration time. Best, -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3 phone: 416-736-5115 ext.66164 fax: 416-736-5814 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: behaviorism and attendance
Hi Rod: What a sad student culture! I feel badly for you and for the students! I think your efforts might be better directed towards some administrative contact with interested students who would like to see better attendance, as it can enhance their own education to have classmates there willingly, rather than under punishment of law! Are there real reasons why the students feel they need an excuse to come to class or to not come to class, as the case may be? Annette Quoting Hetzel, Rod [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Hi TIPSters: I'm in the process of developing syllabi for next semester and wanted to raise once again the issue of attendance policies. In my previous academic position I never had much difficulty with classroom attendance. In fact, I never made attendance mandatory for students. I simply told them that they were expected to be at all class sessions unless some unforeseen emergency came up that prevented them from being in class. A few students took advantage of this policy, but for the most part my students came to class eager and ready to learn. Since taking my new position, however, the issue of attendance has become quite bothersome. The institutional culture here encourages faculty to have attendance policies, so I developed one before my first semester. To my surprise, I found that a large percentage of my students complained on a regular basis about the attendance policies and tried all types of excuses to avoid the consequences of missing classes. This became such a headache that I was considering switching back to my previous attendance policy, but I took a very informal poll and found out that the vast majority of my students reported that they would not attend classes if a professor had no attendance policy. They stated that they would only attend classes on the days of exams. I've asked some other faculty about this and they have reported the same phenomena. My guess is that student complaints about attendance policies are also part of our institutional culture. I've pasted a copy of my attendance policy below. I would like to switch to a policy that doesn't deduct points for being absent. That seems awfully parental to me and not something that optimally prepares students for the adult world that awaits them after graduation. I'm thinking of developing a policy that reinforces good behavior (attending class) rather than punishes bad behavior (skipping class). Anyone have any good ideas for doing this? I would be interested in reading your attendance policies if you feel inclined to share. Looking forward to your responses. Rod You are expected to be present and punctual to all class sessions. You are allowed two unexcused absences in this course. For every unexcused absence after your second unexcused absence, I will deduct 30 points from your final course point total [NOTE TO TIPSTERS: THIS IS ROUGHLY HALF OF A LETTER GRADE]. I will not deduct any points for excused absences. The following situations are considered excused: (a) serious illness or medical emergency; (b) death of an immediate family member; (c) academic or athletic event that has been approved by the Office of Academic Affairs; and (d) other family emergency that is accompanied by a telephone call to me prior to the missed class. Written documentation may be required in order for these situations to be considered for an excused absence. Any anticipated absences that might qualify as excused should be discussed with me prior to the absence. Attendance records will be maintained on Blackboard and updated on a weekly basis. You should check Blackboard frequently to confirm your attendance status for the course. If you believe there has been an error in recording your attendance, you will have one week to bring it to my attention and I will be happy to make any appropriate changes. If you are absent to a class session, please check with me as soon as possible to ensure that you have not missed any important information. __ Roderick D. Hetzel, Ph.D. Department of Psychology LeTourneau University Post Office Box 7001 2100 South Mobberly Avenue Longview, Texas 75607-7001 Office: Education Center 218 Phone:903-233-3893 Fax: 903-233-3851 Email:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage: http://www.letu.edu/people/rodhetzel --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Department of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: behaviorism and attendance
I can't believe that most of the students in your informal poll would be that short-sighted when faced with not doing well in the class. Do they really think that the amount of your instruction that they expose themselves to is going to be unrelated to their performance in the class? They do know that you, the teacher, are also the test creator, right? My experience with a very minimalist attendance policy is that good students come to class compulsively and poor students often miss a lot of class. I can't remember a time when a student came to class just enough to meet the minimal requirements and got a good grade in the class. Your proposed attendance policy looks like a real headache for you (which you indicated from your message). It seems like you would need to hire two work-studies just to keep up with paper work. I don't even have excused absences. All absences are excused. JBU's base attendance policy is that students have to attend half of the classes (excused or not) to get credit for the class. I don't remember the last time I had a student who would have passed a class except that they failed for missing too many classes. Generally, missing many fewer than half of the classes is associated with a low grade. I don't know the causal connection or the direction of it but it is pretty clear that students don't do well in the class if they don't attend. My feeling is that students who don't come to class will have one of two outcomes: 1) They will do well without attending (which almost never happens) in which case they should have tested out of the class or taken it by correspondence since they had no need of any instruction in the topic. In this case, I feel great about giving them the good grade. They certainly deserved it and more power to them. 2) they will do much worse or fail (which is very likely) because they have not had the benefit of instruction. In fact, if I thought most people could pass the class without the benefit of instruction, I would change the format of the class to one where their grade would benefit from attendance. I think it is best to make the class meetings intrinsically valuable instead of trying to make them extrinsically valuable by adding attendance points. My intro psych attendance policy is as follows: Attendance will be taken but will have no direct effect on grades unless half or more of the class meetings are missed which, by college policy, will result in an F for the course. Attendance is important since quizzes will cover material discussed in class. Of course, in the real world there are attendance requirements for most jobs but at most nongovernmental jobs you don't get paid just for showing up. Rick Dr. Richard L. Froman Psychology Department John Brown University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] phone and voice mail: (479)524-7295 http://www.jbu.edu/sbs/rfroman.html -Original Message- From: Hetzel, Rod [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, December 02, 2002 7:28 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: behaviorism and attendance Hi TIPSters: I'm in the process of developing syllabi for next semester and wanted to raise once again the issue of attendance policies. In my previous academic position I never had much difficulty with classroom attendance. In fact, I never made attendance mandatory for students. I simply told them that they were expected to be at all class sessions unless some unforeseen emergency came up that prevented them from being in class. A few students took advantage of this policy, but for the most part my students came to class eager and ready to learn. Since taking my new position, however, the issue of attendance has become quite bothersome. The institutional culture here encourages faculty to have attendance policies, so I developed one before my first semester. To my surprise, I found that a large percentage of my students complained on a regular basis about the attendance policies and tried all types of excuses to avoid the consequences of missing classes. This became such a headache that I was considering switching back to my previous attendance policy, but I took a very informal poll and found out that the vast majority of my students reported that they would not attend classes if a professor had no attendance policy. They stated that they would only attend classes on the days of exams. I've asked some other faculty about this and they have reported the same phenomena. My guess is that student complaints about attendance policies are also part of our institutional culture. I've pasted a copy of my attendance policy below. I would like to switch to a policy that doesn't deduct points for being absent. That seems awfully parental to me and not something that optimally prepares students for the adult world that awaits them after graduation. I'm thinking of developing a policy that reinforces good behavior (attending class) rather than punishes bad behavior
RE: behaviorism and attendance
I use a combination of reward and punishment in my syllabus. Here are the relevant sections of the syllabus: ===(From Pg 2) Attendance Attendance is essential to successful college work. Just as it is impossible to learn to drive without ever entering an automobile, so it is impossible to truly master the material presented in a College course without participating in the classroom activities. Nowhere is this truer than in a course such as this one, which is based strongly on lecture and discussion, rather than solely on material presented in the textbook. In the event of absence, it is the responsibility of the student to obtain copies of class notes or handouts from other students. In all cases, the student will be held responsible for the material presented in lecture or discussion. Students who foresee difficulties in meeting reasonable attendance requirements are strongly encouraged to discuss the problem with the instructor. Note: Failure to attend a minimum of Twelve of the 16 scheduled sessions (without medical justification) will result in a failing grade for the term regardless of total points earned. =(From Pg. 3) Grading This course will be graded on a combination of factors, summarized in the table that follows. Each of those factors is dealt with individually under its own heading. Term Paper: 80 points maximum Participation: 80 points maximum Quizzes:80 points maximum Essays/Projects:80 points maximum Final Exam: 80 points maximum 400 maximum possible points Numeric grades will be based on the following table: 360 points up: 4.0 340 through 359:3.5 320 through 339:3.0 300 through 319:2.5 280 through 299:2.0 260 through 279:1.5 240 through 259:1.0 220 through 239:0.5 219 or below: 0.0 Students who demonstrate a serious commitment to the class through attendance at a minimum of 14 sections will, if they are within 10 points of the next higher grade, receive that grade. Students who demonstrate lack of interest in the course through poor attendance records will not have their grades increased under any circumstances. Attendance at a minimum of twelve sessions is required for a 2.0 or better grade, regardless of total accumulated points. Note: Attendance at the minimum number of sessions alone will not result in a passing grade; the appropriate number of points (see the above table) must be earned for any grade to be awarded. =(From Pg. 7) Quizzes There will be four scheduled quizzes, plus on unscheduled pop quiz, each representing a separate area of study in your text. Each quiz will be worth up to 20 points. In computing grades, the lowest quiz score will be dropped. Quizzes may consist of multiple choice, matching, fill-in, or short essay questions. Because the lowest score will be dropped, makeup quizzes will be available only for students who have medical verification for their absence from two scheduled quizzes and will be essay format. (From Pg. 8) Participation Many students are uncomfortable with open discussion. Some fear that they will be judged on their beliefs or values; others feel that they lack good communications skills; still others are simply uneasy speaking in groups. While, ideally, everyone would feel comfortable participating actively in the discussions, in reality this is not only unlikely, but represents an unfair burden on those for whom such participation is effectively impossible. For this reason, and because the opportunity to listen to the perspectives of others is often as valuable as the actual opportunity to participate in presenting those views, grading for participation will be based totally on active attendance at scheduled class meetings. In order to verify participation credit, a sign-up sheet will be circulated during the class period. Students whose names do not appear on the sheet (or who arrive more than 10 minutes late or leave more than 10 minutes prior to the end of class without prior arrangement with the instructor) will not receive credit for that session. Each class session counts for 5 points to a maximum of 80 points for the semester. Note: As stated earlier in this syllabus, students who fail to attend a minimum of 12 sections, as determined by the sign-up sheets, will not be eligible to receive a passing grade in the class unless they are able to provide verification of their inability to attend classes for medical or emergency reasons. Students who have missed 5 or more sections are, therefore strongly
Re: behaviorism and attendance
As a behaviorist, I'm struck by how much of this thread is concerned with how to coerce/compel attendance vs. a functional analysis of attendance requirements. We (in these United States) require attendance in elementary and secondary schools because an educated populace is regarded as a public benefit, so students are required to learn whether they want to or not. This is in turn enforced by public tuition funding which is usually contingent upon student attendance. We're approaching this situation in postsecondary education, but I'm not sure that this is a good trend (extending universal public education by another two/four years). As Jim Clark pointed out, we can approach the control of the behavior of attending classes from two directions: 1. We can impose an arbitrary contingency such as points towards a grade or pop quizzes (these may have other functions as well). This assumes that either: a. Attendance has some value in and of itself, or b. Attendance is a necessary condition for learning and thus its compulsion is justified. 2. We can rely on natural contingencies -- those inherent in the behavior itself and not requiring someone's planned intervention. Again, there are two categories: a. Making attending reinforcing in its own right (lectures as 'dog-and-pony shows' -- see PowerPoint). b. Assuming that attendance has or will acquire conditioned reinforcing properties through its association with better class performance and grades. or through a general conditioned reinforcing value of learning (acquiring new behavior has become a generalized conditioned reinforcer because it has been paired with many other reinforcers. Personally, I go with the second function. Since I use a PSI unit/master system, I don't lecture anyway. On a personal note (ancient history) I did once do well in a class without attending. Graduate statistics! We were using the Hays text (first edition, I believe). Bill Hays was on the faculty, but not teaching the course because of department politics. I found that the lectures were just confusing me and taught myself the material from the text, showing up only to take tests and get them back. Hopefully this is not a typical situation for _this_ list! -- * PAUL K. BRANDON [EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Psychology Dept Minnesota State University, Mankato * * 23 Armstrong Hall, Mankato, MN 56001 ph 507-389-6217 * *http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/psych/welcome.html* --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: behaviorism and attendance
At 11:07 AM -0600 12/2/02, Paul Brandon wrote: 2. We can rely on natural contingencies -- those inherent in the behavior itself and not requiring someone's planned intervention. Again, there are two categories: a. Making attending reinforcing in its own right (lectures as 'dog-and-pony shows' -- see PowerPoint). b. Assuming that attendance has or will acquire conditioned reinforcing properties through its association with better class performance and grades. or through a general conditioned reinforcing value of learning (acquiring new behavior has become a generalized conditioned reinforcer because it has been paired with many other reinforcers. Because of the delay between attendance and its effect on learning and grades, the conditions for learning that attendance affects grades are far from ideal. Perhaps it can be improved if after exams you identify questions that were only available by attending lecture. This at least would provide specific feedback about the value of attendance and note-taking (compared to other exam-prep activities). I don't currently require attendance in any of my courses. One of my undergraduates mentioned to me that he works (nights, I think) and requiring attendance would provide that extra boost for him to come to class (as he knows he ought to do). If I am remembering correctly which student it is (I have pairs of students who are confusable), then he has, since making that comment, become a more regular attendee. Still, it's a thought, although I lean less toward a requirement than for making it something for which I could award extra credit (the ol' discretion to increase grades a notch) so that all I would need to determine was who was attending regularly. Speaking of what needs to be done to fulfill class requirements, I notice some new articles in the Chronicle, as well as an accompanying Colloquy topic (http://forums.chronicle.com/colloquy/read.php?f=1i=768t=768), on the lack of time spent studying by college students. I also coincidentally happened to hear from a former TA for graduate stats about the student workload for stats last year. The students were claiming it was (too) high, but when he polled them about how much time they spent outside of class, few spent more than nine hours a week, which apparently was less than they perceived it to be, but more than they had been accustomed to as undergraduates or perhaps even in some of their other classes. Before anyone flames me about how much time that is (yes, up to 12-13 hours per week), let me say that I know it's high for a 3-credit class, and when I was an undergraduate (at a school which used course units, which were expected hours per week), most 9-unit classes (the approximate equivalent of 3 credits) were in fact about 8-9 hours, for me anyway, some were a little less, and everyone understood that some methods-heavy or project-heavy classes were actually more like 12 units, although not necessarily so rated. We knew not to take two of those in the same term. So in short, I wonder if students are gradually expecting that less and less is actually necessary in order to obtain a college degree, including, that attendance is not necessary to the purposes of college. Charlotte -- === Charlotte F. Manly, Ph.D. Psychological Brain Sciences Assistant Professor 317 Life Sciences Bldg ph: (502) 852-8162University of Louisville fax: (502) 852-8904 Louisville, KY 40292 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.louisville.edu/a-s/psychology/ http://www.louisville.edu/~cfmanl01 USE 40208 ZIP CODE FOR FEDEX --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
