Effectiveness of Attendance Monitoring in Improving Student Learning Experience Dr. Maria Konstantaki

Introduction Attendance to classes competes with ever-increasing demands of student lifestyle Problematic attendance implicated as a major factor influencing students’: Learning / attainment of knowledge (constructivism) Progression due to disengagement with a course Transition and adaptation to university life Retention due to withdrawal from programmes Overall experience of HE

Attendance and Academic Performance  Regular attendance leads to improved academic performance (Khan et al. 2003) Commitment to classes is a potent determinant of achievement (Van Berkel and Schmidt 2000) Shimoff and Catania (2001) recorded attendance (no credit), absenteeism decreased and academic performance increased

Attendance and Academic Performance  Regular attendance does not translate into improved academic performance for low-achievers and for students with learning handicaps (Dhaliwal 2003) Students will attend classes they perceive relevant to industry requirements and to their future careers

The problem Attendance and Academic Performance Evidence is inconclusive! Studies investigated small group attendance Lack of convenient / user friendly method to monitor attendance in large groups What do students think about attendance monitoring?

Dibber system: the solution? Originally developed to monitor attendance of athletes to training sessions Consists of Dibber station and dibber key Students are equipped with the dibber key in the beginning of the year Students ‘dib in’ upon entering the lecture theatre Data is easily downloaded and attendance profile constructed for every student

Method Purposive sample: 100 first year students Students were equipped with a dibber key and were informed that their attendance would be monitored Questionnaire administered at end of semester 1: Student views of attendance monitoring Reasons for non-attendance Advantages / disadvantages of system

Results

Results

Results

Discussion: Advantages of Dibber system Provides motivation to attend (89% of respondents) Monitoring attendance shows that the institution / lecturer ‘cares’ Easy to use for students, lecturers, admin staff

Discussion: Disadvantages of Dibber system Students ‘dibbing’ for absent friends If dibber key is lost, there is a replacement cost that students are unwilling to pay Lecturers forget to bring the dibber station Remembering student names

Conclusion Students welcome the new system as a caring approach by the institution Attendance monitoring acts as a motivational tool Can help to identify relationship between attendance and academic performance for large student groups Need to address: Dibbing for absent friends Way of learning students’ names Reasons for non-attendance

Overall Conclusion Students associate regular attendance with improved academic performance Next step: Compare attendance scores of the student population studied with the grades achieved

References Khan H.U., Khattak A.M., Mahsud I.U., Munir A..S., Saleem M., Shah S.H. (2003). Impact of class attendance upon examination results of students in basic medical sciences. Journal of Ayub Medical College, 15(2):56-8. Van Berkel H., Schmidt H. (2000). On the additional value of lectures in a problem-based curriculum. Education for Health. 18(1):45-61. Shimoff E., Catania C.A. (2001). Effects of recording attendance on grades in Introductory Psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 28(3): 192-195. Dhaliwal U. (2003). Absenteeism and under-achievement in final year medical students. National Medical Journal of India, 16(1): 34-36.