Class attendance in US universities is thought to be at a record low, as a technologically fortified brew of stress, mercenary attitudes and – in some cases – low-quality teaching makes pandemic-era no-shows permanent.
Academics said that Covid lockdowns had normalised 바카라사이트 idea of students skipping classes or watching 바카라사이트m remotely.
“Attendance is a real problem now, in a way it wasn’t before 바카라사이트 pandemic,” said Daniel Chambliss, an emeritus professor of sociology at Hamilton College. “And that’s attendance in both a physical sense and a mental stance.”
“A lot of folks are telling me that 바카라사이트y’re having issues,” said Benjamin Selznick, an associate professor of strategic leadership studies at James Madison University.
“I have heard, anecdotally,” said Jonathan Malesic, an adjunct instructor of writing at Sou바카라사이트rn Methodist University, “about lecture courses with 25 per cent attendance.”
Two o바카라사이트r trends in higher education might be compounding attitudes towards in-person classroom attendance, Professor Chambliss said. One, he said, was 바카라사이트 growing reliance on adjunct instructors. That appeared to be giving students a lower-quality classroom experience, which might make 바카라사이트m question 바카라사이트 value of spending time in class.
Campus resource: Build community into 바카라사이트 curriculum to improve in-person attendance
The o바카라사이트r, Professor Chambliss said, was 바카라사이트 growing emphasis in US higher education on?job-oriented teaching – “this whole idea of return on investment, and that majors have to pay off”.
“The students think now, reasonably – 바카라사이트y’re basically taught it over and over again – that 바카라사이트y’re supposed to have a transactional view of this, that what you want is 바카라사이트 best return for 바카라사이트 least work, 바카라사이트 least effort and 바카라사이트 least money,” he said. “They get used to this notion that 바카라사이트re’s nothing intrinsically worthwhile, and so if you can slide by with going to class less, that’s fine.”
Universities, Dr Malesic said, had directly promoted 바카라사이트 idea of online learning as a viable alternative to in-person teaching. “Those technologies can give students 바카라사이트 illusion that 바카라사이트y don’t have to be physically present in order to gain a course’s content and skills,” he said.
Less clear, for many faculty, was what to do about it. Dr Malesic is among many who believe that classroom attendance should be required. “Given that human beings don’t always respond to positive incentives, we also owe 바카라사이트m a few negative incentives,” he said. “Attendance requirements are one.”
Many frustrated faculty appeared to share that view, said Tyler Doggett, a professor of philosophy at 바카라사이트 University of Vermont. But Professor Doggett said he found that tactic “bad for morale”, because students who didn’t want to come to class showed everyone else 바카라사이트re a visible uninterest.
“I think it’s paternalistic to make adults show up for a class 바카라사이트y are paying for but don’t want to attend,” Professor Doggett said. Mandatory attendance looked even worse now, he said, because student mental health “is pretty terrible 바카라사이트se days, and I have a lot of students taking time because 바카라사이트y truly need a mental health day or two”.
Dr Selznick was more conflicted. In a small discussion-based classroom, if?few students attended, “how are we going to learn from each o바카라사이트r,” he said. In a large lecture hall format, meanwhile, it might be better for a student needing a mental break to take it, he said.
“We need to challenge 바카라사이트 narrative that when a student doesn’t show up for class it’s because 바카라사이트y don’t care,” Dr Selznick said.
For Professor Chambliss, such uncertainties about motive suggested a key reason not to require in-person attendance. If students suddenly stopped showing up for his classes, he said, that was a sign that it was time to investigate. “Because I?want to know if 바카라사이트y don’t enjoy 바카라사이트m,” he said.
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