It’s a predictable and frustrating pattern: Large, lecture-format classes in early September boast standing-room-only attendance, but by October good seats are abundant.
Perhaps it has always been thus, but some faculty members are reporting that absentee rates appear to be climbing. For instance, in a recent story in Inside Higher Ed, a biology professor from Pennsylvania State University reported that absentee rates in his course typically averaged about 20 percent through the 1990s, but have climbed to as high as 50 percent over the past five years.
Bolstering such anecdotal evidence is a 2005 survey of first-year undergraduate students by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles. Researchers found that while a majority of students spend 11 or more hours in class per week, 33 percent reported skipping class and 63 percent said they come to class late “frequently” or “occasionally.”
According to a half-dozen WSU faculty members contacted recently, there does not appear to be a big increase in absenteeism on campus, but even the typical numbers are distressing.
“Students don’t come to class unless they have to,” said John Jones, an assistant professor of anthropology. About 90 students typically enroll in his 101 class, he said, and about 80 percent attend regularly. Somewhat like a pop quiz, he awards points to students in attendance on particular days, but he’s not sure how much that helps.
About 25 percent of students are engaged and motivated, he said, coming to class and seeking him out during office hours. But, he said, there’s also the bottom 20 percent who try to get by on the bare minimum.
“I try to do my best for everybody,” he said, “but I’m not going to coddle those who don’t make an effort.”
Richard Staab, a senior instructor in the history department, said he attempts to encourage attendance in his Gen Ed world civilization course by scattering five pop quizzes throughout the semester. The only way a student can make it up is with a note from a doctor.
Even that only helps so much, he said. Freshmen decide early on a strategy for getting through a class. Some will choose to come to class every day, but others will decide they can get by on lecture notes and course readings, and will only attend sporadically. He used to take it personally, but he doesn’t anymore.
“You’re always going to have a core group of students who want to be here,” he said, and he focuses his energies on those students.
The plethora of online resources might be contributing to some absenteeism, but according to some faculty members technology can also help get students back in the seats.
Andrew McCubbin, who teaches the botany sections of an introductory biology course, said he thinks class attendance in his course has increased slightly over the past several years.
“You have to give students a reason to come to class,” he said, and he does it in part by presenting information in a multimedia format.
“You have to work harder than you used to,” he said. “Black and white overheads are not going to do it.”
Both anecdotal evidence and research identifies large classes as suffering the highest absentee rates. For suggestions and/or resources for teaching large classes, contact WSU’s Center for Teaching Learning and Technology or go visit https://wiki.wsu.edu/wsuwiki/Teaching_Large_Classes.
