Like Dan, I don't have an attendance policy, but I make sure that a lack of attendance affects their grade. In lieu of attendance, I have a "class contribution" component worth 10% of the final grade. Of course, if a student is absent, they cannot contribute--and you would be amazed how many students don't make the connection. I had one student, a senior in a sophomore level legal environment course, who blew it off about mid term and missed 12 of the last 15 class sessions. (The two he attended were for exams.) He received 40% for class contribution. Guess who was the only student to challenge his grade!
Keith A. Maxwell, J.D.
Professor Emeritus
Legal Studies and Ethics in Business
University of Puget Sound
Adjunct Professor of Business Law
Dixie State College
Saint George, UT
________________________________
From: Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk on behalf of Daniel Warner
Sent: Fri 2/20/2009 02:56 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: class attendance policy?
Hi All,
I have no attendance policy. Interestingly, I never have a problem with students leaving class early. The expectations are set out in the syllabus, for starters.
Sometimes they don't attend at all, but I don't think I've ever had a student duck out, in 31 years of teaching. If their personal communication devices go off, I give the student "the eye," and it happens maybe once a term; they're always embarrassed and sheepish about it.
I wonder if it's because of my demeanor. I always wear a coat and tie, pressed shirt and shined shoes: I really try to project a professional image, and I expect professional behavior from students. Certainly I tell them, if necessary, to refer to me as "Professor Warner" (and not by the first name). If a student falls asleep in class I say something like this: "Wake up. Sit up. Take notes; at least pretend to be paying attention. I'm doing the best I can here [interject a little soft-shoe shuffle]. It is very impolite to fall asleep in class. I don't lecture in your bedroom, you don't fall asleep in my lecture. Please don't do it again." If a student is slouched in his chair, sitting on his tailbone I tell him, "Sit up straight. It's impolite to slouch." While I try very hard to smile a lot-shamelessly, like a politician-I don't expect my students to consider me a "friend." I'm not buddy-buddy with them ever. I always get to class on time. I maintain a distinct professional distance (but I do tell jokes, reflect upon my childhood interests, talk about my family and so on).
Sometimes-very rarely-a student will disappear to use the bathroom. When the student comes back, I say something like: "There you are. Whew! Back safely; thank goodness. You guys can sit through a two hour movie, no problem [shrug]."
I also am entirely professionally courteous with students. I always thank them for their classroom contributions. I always stand up when a student comes into my office, and again when the student leaves.
In fact, I did kick a student out of class once years ago for refusing to take off his hat. He ran over to the president's office to complain; they sent him to the dean; the dean sent him to the department chair. The department chair said it was impolite for men to wear hats indoors and that I was right. He dropped the class and I never saw him again. (And since it was a required class, and I'm the only one who teaches the class, he must have changed his major, or dropped out of the university, or something.)
In the teaching evaluations the students used to say "He's imperious." "He's intimidating" and so on. But also, students say they learn a lot in my classes; many of them write that they appreciate the business-like atmosphere. I don't mean to be intimidating, but I demand that they not waste my time and theirs; I will not put up with it, and once the expectations are established, I have no problem.
Also, maybe it's because I'm 6'2". I dunno.
Dan Warner
Daniel M. Warner
Professor, Dept. of Accounting
(Business Legal Studies)
MS 9071, WWU
516 High St.
Bellingham, WA 98225
360 650-3390
________________________________
From: Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael O'Hara
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 10:59 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: class attendance policy?
ALSBTALK:
My first semester of teaching as a graduate student in economics I did take attendance every day. (A hang over from the nuns, I suppose.) However, except for submission of separately graded events (e.g., exams) I have not taken attendance i the last 30 years. Why? During my first semester a teacher down the hall also took attendance every day. At mid-semester she became the key witness for proving an accused murder's alibi. Being helpful, and not being fully aware of the significance, she "corrected" her contemporaneous business records by adding her subsequent recollections. That did not go well as she had hoped when she volunteered that information for the first time in her replies during foundation questioning. Total surprise for both defendant and prosecutor. That experience makes me reluctant to create a record I do not know for certain I will need.
I do agree the behavior of students today is materially changing relative to just a few years ago. Am I to be pleased that a student left the classroom to answer a phone set to vibrate? Is the bladder control of today's students genuinely less well developed or subject to more medical conditions than in years past? I welcome discussions on how to handle this change in social expectations.
Michael
Professor Michael J. O'Hara, J.D., Ph.D.
Finance, Banking, & Law Department
College of Business Administration
Roskens Hall 502
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha NE 68182
[log in to unmask]
(402) 554 - 2823 voice fax (402) 554 - 2680
http://cba.unomaha.edu/faculty/mohara/web/ohara.htm <http://cba.unomaha.edu/faculty/mohara/web/ohara.htm>
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