TEACHSOC: Re: 8:00 Classes

[Kathleen McKinney]

We basically have two "policies" related to attendance...the first, in the student handbook, is a statement simply that students are expected to attend class. The second, in faculty policy is a statement about how faculty must give reasonable accommodation to students missing class for legitimate university business and religious holidays (actually, it might be two separate statements).
k
At 07:49 AM 2/2/2006, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 First, let me say that this whole discussion of student attendance is extremely interesting and helpful. 
 
I was wondering if all schools or some schools have an attendance policy, if yes, then how profs deal with this, if no, then do profs make such individual policies/decisions?  e.g.: Jay, does your school have an attendance policy? 
 
Thanks,
Anna Karpathakis
Kingsborough C.C., CUNY
 
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Teaching Sociology <teachsoc@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thu, 02 Feb 2006 05:38:32 -0800
Subject: TEACHSOC: Re: 8:00 Classes



I frame attendance, lateness, and participation as matters of learning
and courtesy.  I do not think of them in terms of training for future
jobs.  If a student can learn everything in the course without ever
coming to class, aces the paper and exams, the student gets an A.  I
think that as a matter of courtesy, students have obligations to the
course as they would to other interactions -- to be present, to listen
and respond, etc.  But I think grades should be about intellectual
performance, so I'm reluctant to use academic sanctions (grades) to
enforce social norms.

Using absences to knock down students' grades also puts the professor
into the position of making moral distinctions among reasons for
absence or lateness, an exercise I prefer to avoid especially since the
policy gives rise to questions of honesty and verification.  I don't
want to see notes from the doctor about their physical ailments or
notes from the undertaker about their grandmother's funeral or notes
from the mechanic about their wheel bearings.

I am also baffled as to how one might quantify these more social
aspects of the course.  Students have told me of courses where the
professor says something like, "Participation counts for 15% of your
grade," and I always wonder how professors decides how many points to
award for this or that student comment.   Do they go back to their
offices immediately after class and score each student comment as they
remember it?  Or do they, at the end of the semester, give a number
based on their overall impression?

However, like Marty, I will use attendance and participation when
scores on exams and papers puts a student's final grade on the cusp.

Jay Livingston
Montclair State College

Kathleen McKinney
Cross Endowed Chair in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Professor, Sociology
Carnegie Scholar
Box 6370
Illinois State University
Normal, Il 61790-6370
off 309-438-7706
fax 309-438-8788
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.ilstu.edu/~kmckinne/