2008 Woodie Awards
Attendance policy tops course syllabi
Campus lacks official rule to punish student absences
Teasha Fowler
Issue date: 1/24/07 Section: News
At Northern Kentucky University, class attendance policies vary widely.
Professor Ben Kaufman's syllabus for Ethics and Mass Media states, "I do not count attendance or absence in grading."
On the other hand, a syllabus could be similar to Dr. Russell Proctor's for his Interviewing class, "Absenteeism and tardiness are traits of an unprofessional communicator."
"There is no university wide, Board of Regents policy that has anything to do with absences that I'm aware of," said Kent Kelso, dean of students.
According to the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities, "Classroom participation is essential to the education process in many disciplines. Therefore, when the instructor indicates in the course syllabus that class participation is essential to the educational goals of the course, the instructor may lower a student's final grade because of excessive absences."
The Code also states "in order for attendance to be a factor in grading purposes, the individual instructor must require attendance as essential in the course and must state this in the course syllabus."
"In our department, individuals can make up their own," said Dr. Brad Scharlott, journalism professor.
This semester, the College of Informatics is trying a "Non-Attendance Reporting Pilot" that strongly encourages faculty to take attendance in their classes for the first three weeks of the semester and then report any absent students to the Office of the Registrar.
"In 2005, the Registrar's Office initiated the 'drop for non-attendance' reporting procedures in order to comply with federal financial aid regulations," said Michelle Heatherton, interim assistant dean in the College of Informatics, in an e-mail to all Informatics faculty members. "In order to legitimately receive financial aid, students need to be physically present in their classes or, in the case of online courses, be engaged in some form of educational activity."
"Despite the importance of the non-attendance reporting," Heatherton explained, "the participation rate among faculty members across the University has been relatively low."
Professor Ben Kaufman's syllabus for Ethics and Mass Media states, "I do not count attendance or absence in grading."
On the other hand, a syllabus could be similar to Dr. Russell Proctor's for his Interviewing class, "Absenteeism and tardiness are traits of an unprofessional communicator."
"There is no university wide, Board of Regents policy that has anything to do with absences that I'm aware of," said Kent Kelso, dean of students.
According to the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities, "Classroom participation is essential to the education process in many disciplines. Therefore, when the instructor indicates in the course syllabus that class participation is essential to the educational goals of the course, the instructor may lower a student's final grade because of excessive absences."
The Code also states "in order for attendance to be a factor in grading purposes, the individual instructor must require attendance as essential in the course and must state this in the course syllabus."
"In our department, individuals can make up their own," said Dr. Brad Scharlott, journalism professor.
This semester, the College of Informatics is trying a "Non-Attendance Reporting Pilot" that strongly encourages faculty to take attendance in their classes for the first three weeks of the semester and then report any absent students to the Office of the Registrar.
"In 2005, the Registrar's Office initiated the 'drop for non-attendance' reporting procedures in order to comply with federal financial aid regulations," said Michelle Heatherton, interim assistant dean in the College of Informatics, in an e-mail to all Informatics faculty members. "In order to legitimately receive financial aid, students need to be physically present in their classes or, in the case of online courses, be engaged in some form of educational activity."
"Despite the importance of the non-attendance reporting," Heatherton explained, "the participation rate among faculty members across the University has been relatively low."
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