6.8 Coming To Class

How often have you heard a colleague discuss poor class attendance? This was a problem before the pandemic and might be a bigger issue after. You have to think of the situation from the student's perspective. Why bother to attend class?

Here are our first six reasons why a student might attend class...

• Obsessive obedience to figures of authority, trying to be a ‘good student’. Some students will just come to class because it is expected. They get no other value, but the satisfaction of doing what they are told and what they think others expect of them. Not a bad reason to go to class, but not the type of reason we are counting on. Just because they come does not mean that they want to, or see value in coming.
• There might be attendance and participation marks. The carrot and the stick model of incentives. The students may or may not want to come, but for marks, they will do anything; even it means working on another course while paying nominal attention to the class they are in.
• There might be basic content that is not posted or shared in any other way. This is a kissing cousin to the attendance and participation mark scheme. It is a form of hostage taking and blackmail. Not the best type of incentive or value add either. This is not the same as additional insights or enriched/enhanced material that the instructor provides based on experience and expertise.
• The course might use experiential, interactive methods that provide deeper learning and understanding. This might be understood and appreciated by the students. Activities such as think-pair-share, small group activities.
• There might be additional problems, with discussions, explanations about the problem solving. These are good value adds.
• There might also be clues and 'tells' about possible content in upcoming assessments, what to expect, some insider info if the student is paying attention. Often, instructors provide clues without knowing it. Students that know how to look and see will spot them.

You can probably do these six if you do not know the application domain, or what the value is of what you are teaching. That is, you know the stuff in the text, and can teach the stuff in the text. You might have had one or two undergraduate courses in the topic and have been chosen to teach the subject. At the end of the day, you know more than the students and you can teach them what/how you were taught.

Instructors that rely on the first three points will very likely have poor attendance. Or, if the students turn up, they will be there in body only. There will be little engagement and lots of side activity going on. The instructor is not really giving anything more than what is in the book. If you can read the book, why go to class? The last three points, if done well, will pull some of the students in, to the minimal threshold.

There are two other reasons why a student might join the class...

• You are providing additional, enriched info about the actual topic. You do more book-type stuff, but taking it up a notch in the methods, techniques; beyond the book. More intesesting twists and turns.
• You might be decoding how to approach the problem, are able to break down the process. Provide insights about comprehension and application

You can provide these two value adds if you really understand the topic and know material beyond the book, and have thought about the process breakdown (and are able to communicate it). These are really great added value to a course and we believe that these two will get the attention of many students.

There are four more reasons...

• You can show how the topic relates to their world, value in the real world in general. It is important to make the material relatable if you expect the students to be really engaged and interested.
• If your program has coops or internships, you can provide added value by weaving in the student experiences and knowledge gained in the work place. That will help hook the students and get their attention. You would then have the ability to talk about the general learning and engage the students in discussion makes the course more interesting and they can see how the topic relates to what they have done, seen.
• If the students see how the course will help them get coop jobs, internships, and how the course learning outcomes will help them excel on the job, you will get their rapt attention. Most students are not going into academia research and their mind is usually focused on the immediate job opportunities.
• Lastly, if you connect the course to post-graduation and how the course is useful and will help them in their careers, you will also get their attention. This will be key for senior students. Junior students will be thinking about coop and internships.

It is hard to provide these four value adds unless you have first hand experience and can speak from first person. You have to have done enough as well, not just a few short research projects, but enough time to know the dynamics, the inner secrets, the magic sauce. You have to have depth and breadth to pull these off.

The more you can do of the nine points (beyond the first three), the more the class will offer value to the students. Not all of the students will be hooked by all, but the nine provide variety and different value adds. This variety will help cover the spectrum of possible reasons why a student does or does not come to class. If you can do all of the nine, you really have it covered and will likely have great class attendance for the whole term. You will keep the students on the edge of their seats. Ok, not all of the time, but for a lot of the time.

If you cannot initially pull off the higher end value adds, you can bring in guest speakers. You can try to do more applied research perhaps and build up the knowledge. You can consider doing pro bono work in a domain relevant to your topic so that you can talk to it. If the students think that you are more than a book expert, you might get them to class. If all you are is a book expert and they have the book, you might find a lot of apathy in the class.

Further reading

• St. Clair, K.L. (1999). A case against compulsory class attendance policies in higher education, Innovative Higher Education, 23, 3, pp. 171-180.