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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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?

6. 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

7. 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

8. Results

9. Results

10. Results

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

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

15. 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):
Dhaliwal U. (2003). Absenteeism and under-achievement in final year medical students. National Medical Journal of India, 16(1):