Motivating Students: Exploring Ways to Encourage Class Attendance

Students learn in a variety of ways. Students can take courses online, or they can choose to be part of a classroom setting. Combinations whereby students watch lectures online and then attend a type of problem-oriented lab... [ view full abstract ]

Students learn in a variety of ways. Students can take courses online, or they can choose to be part of a classroom setting. Combinations whereby students watch lectures online and then attend a type of problem-oriented lab session are also proving popular. However, for a classroom-setting course where the teaching methods are often intertwined with actual class attendance by the students, the question arises: How can class attendance be encouraged? This paper first discusses attendance policies in general and then explores several techniques designed to encourage students to pattern themselves to attend class on a regular basis. Included are discussions on clearly presenting attendance policies and consequences of absences in the syllabus, the possible consequences of having no attendance policy at all, the role of a roll and the use of seating charts, bonus points, pop quizzes and other random assignments to encourage attendance.