Center for Teaching and Learning

Attendance & Engagement

Enforced attendance on college exercises, especially lectures, has for a long time been a source of disagreement between the authorities and the students. But the fact that attendance has to be enforced ought to raise the question of the justice of such a proceeding. Is it fair to force students to attend lectures if they do not find the lectures worth attending? It may not be possible to make all academic lectures attractive, but it should be possible to make them so valuable that the student would regard a cut as a misfortune, rather than as a liberation. … Until some such method is adopted, by which lecturers may be enabled to tell their students things of real value to them, the undergraduate attitude with regard to the cutting of certain courses can not be considered wholly unreasonable.

— "The Value of Lectures," The Harvard Crimson (4 March 1910)

As the above student op-ed attests, students have long taken attendance into their own hands, electing to skip class meetings that they "do not find … worth attending." This pattern has held true regardless of universities' and instructors' official policies—even when, as at Harvard in 1910, attendance was taken religiously and penalties were severe. Now that faculty frequently record and post their lectures online, it's perhaps unsurprising that even highly engaged students do not always prioritize in-person attendance, particularly in large lectures. Indeed, some faculty tell their students that lecture attendance is optional, and that it is unnecessary unless they are struggling to understand the material from the textbook and homework alone. If we expect these students to appreciate the importance of in-person attendance, it is important that we make an explicit effort to articulate the value of learning and doing together, and find authentic ways to hold students accountable for their contribution to each others' understanding.

Jump to …

• What are Brandeis’ Official Expectations Around Attendance?
• Why is In-Person Attendance Valuable?
• How Can I Take Attendance in a Way that Motivates Students?
• How Can I Teach Students to Handle Their Absences Well?
• Some Sample Syllabus Language about Attendance
• An Attendance Policy Generator

What are Brandeis' Official Expectations Around Attendance?

Brandeis' official guidance about class attendance appears to be clear enough, with the University Bulletin referring to an "expectation" of "regular" attendance: "All students are expected to attend classes regularly." But what is "regular," and who "expects" it? The university leaves it to individual instructors to spell out the details. This approach puts the onus on you, as the instructor, to be well-informed as to what the institution requires, explicit with your students about what kinds of norms will be enforced in your course, and consistent about enforcing those norms in practice.

Student absences generally fall into three categories, and we suggest that you be clear on your syllabus about how you will treat absences as well as what you expect of students within the context of your course:

1. Sanctioned short-term absences that must be excused. A combination of state law and Brandeis policies make it incumbent upon instructors to grant students excused absences in a handful of circumstances, including illness and religious observance. Three important notes about these types of excused absences:
   • The fact that these absences are excused does not mean that students are relieved of their obligation to complete the work they miss. Rather, it means that, in these cases, instructors are expected to provide students with reasonable opportunities to make up their work without prejudice to their grades.
   • Instructors are not required in routine cases of illness to collect official documentation of their student's illness or conflict from a health provider or equivalent source.
   • Brandeis' guidance on Academic Coursework and Religious Observance is particularly thorough, delineating (e.g.) between the formal observance of holidays and time that students may wish to spend traveling before and after holidays, and merits a careful read.
2. Other short-term absences, which may be deemed "excused" or "unexcused" at the instructor's discretion. Students might miss class for a range of other reasons, some of which may seem more permissible (like bereavement, family emergencies, and occasional varsity athletic competitions with prior notice) than others (like oversleeping, poor time management, or excessively prioritizing an extracurricular activity). Brandeis trusts faculty to be rigorous, but humane, in determining how to draw the line between excused and unexcused absences, and to assign appropriate weight to each in calculating students' final grades.
   • Some instructors have the appetite to parse their students' various circumstances, and to discern on a case-by-case basis which absences will or won't be excused. If this is your preference, we advise that you make your syllabus as explicit as possible as to (a) when and how you expect students to notify you of an absence, and (b) what they should expect to happen once you have ruled their absence excused or unexcused.
   • Some instructors, by contrast, choose not to adjudicate absences at this level of granularity. This may be because their enrollment is so large as to make this impracticable, and/or because they are concerned about possible inequities in the process, as some students may be more comfortable or adept at arguing for the gravity of their hardship. If this is your preference, then you have essentially two policy options: either (a) you can make a blanket ruling that only a predetermined subset of absences will be excused; or (b) as an increasing number of instructors are choosing to do, you may grant students a no-questions-asked bank of excused absences (e.g. two free passes) that they may spend at their discretion. As in the case-by-case approach above, you will want to make sure to be clear on your syllabus the process by which students may claim an excused absence and make up their work, as well as the consequences for any unexcused absences.
   • Note that student athletes who anticipate a need for accommodation are advised by the Brandeis Student-Athlete Handbook to present the instructor, at the beginning of the semester, with a letter from the athletic director verifying their participation in a varsity sport and containing the schedule for the team. Students should not expect accommodation for practices; coaches should accept the responsibility to schedule practices to minimize conflict with classes and accommodate missed practices if necessary for class attendance. The instructor and the student athlete should then work out a plan for compensating for classes or other assignments that will be missed. The goal should be that athletes satisfy approximately the same overall obligations and enjoy approximately the same overall learning opportunities as non-athletes.
3. Long-term absences. Whether for illness, family emergencies, or extraordinary enrichment opportunities, students occasionally need or want to be away from campus for longer than a week. These cases should be managed in a manner distinct from more routine, short-term absences:
   • As noted in the University Bulletin, "an undergraduate student should be in immediate contact with their Academic Services advisor, and graduate students should be in immediate contact with their program advisor, to discuss what options may be available." Students who miss more than two weeks of class are often asked to withdraw from the semester.

For examples of how instructors might implement these various policy options in practice, see the sample policies below.

Of course, an attendance policy is only as meaningful as an instructor's willingness, and ability, to keep an accurate account of students' presence or absence in class. Below, in our section on How Can I Take Attendance in a Way that Motivates Students?, we offer some concrete suggestions about how to keep track of students' attendance. But first, we share some thoughts about how to show students that attendance matters, since the way that you choose to track students' attendance probably depends on why you value them being there.

Why is In-Person Attendance Valuable?

So: why is attendance so important?

For many students (and even some instructors), class time is regarded as important chiefly because it offers students an additional opportunity to hear an expert explain the same material that they have been asked to study independently (e.g. by reading the textbook). Indeed, in some courses, students are told that they need not "waste time" coming to lectures or sections if they already understand the material covered in the textbook and/or published lecture notes well enough to complete the homework assignments and exams. For these students, attending class naturally feels like a matter of personal preference, rather than an obligation—let alone something that they might owe to their peers, who never really enter the decision-making equation. The same can be true of Pass/Fail students: if they are able to complete their assignments without attending class, they may make a calculation that spending several hours/week in class is not "worth it" to secure attendance and participation points that they do not need, mathematically, in order to secure a passing grade.

Yet ideally, class time is not only—perhaps not even primarily—about rehearsing the same material or reiterating the same concepts that students are studying on their own time. It is also an invaluable opportunity for getting students to learn together, unlocking possibilities for the kinds of supervised practice, discussion, group work, crowdsourcing, and peer feedback that they can’t access alone (and that justify Brandeis' significant investment of time and money in sustaining a residential educational experience). What this means, then, is that we need to take special care to clarify that attendance is mandatory because it creates opportunities for interpersonal connection that are, in and of themselves, fundamental goals of the course.

Here are some ways to make sure that attending class in-person feels like a unique and irreplaceable experience:

• Make lecture an occasion for interactive modeling. As the instructor, your time is the scarcest resource in any lecture course, and mere "content delivery" is almost always a relatively inefficient use of that scarce resource. It’s more effective if you, as a professional scholar, can offer yourself up to model how an expert poses and attempts to answer authentic questions. Invite your students to help you define/refine the topic of your lecture, and make yourself the avatar through which they navigate (or fumble!) their way through the problem. Pause at each step of the process and invite students to make suggestions, or vote, on where you go next. "Where could we find evidence that would help us decide which of these two approaches we should take?" "Why do we think that no one has made this comparison in the past?" These are the kinds of open-ended questions that you, as an expert, are uniquely able to help your students pose, ponder, and solve in real time.
• Use the time for problem-solving with just-in-time feedback. Ultimately, we want to make sure that our students understand what we are teaching well enough to be able to solve problems and apply our material to new situations on their own, without our guidance and feedback. Yet it can be enormously valuable for students to have their instructors—and peers—nearby when they are making their first attempts at the subject. Often students get stuck or go astray on just a single step of a complex problem; if they have to wait hours, or even days, before they can access help through office hours they may lose their momentum and/or fritter away time that could have been spent more productively. Dedicating at least some of your class time to placing students in groups and asking them to apply a concept or solve a problem while you circulate through the room will give them valuable feedback on their learning—and give you and the rest of your teaching team an opportunity to see, vividly, where students are (and aren't) understanding the course material.
• Engage in crowdsourcing. Many of our courses aim to help students understand patterns in human behavior, and to think through why individuals and communities value what they value and act the way they act in response to their shifting circumstances. While it's entirely possible to teach students using general datasets or historical examples, why not make the students—and their experiences, beliefs, and willingness to adapt in response to changes—the raw material of analysis in the course? Assuming that your enrollment is sufficiently large and diverse, you could have students survey, debate, and examine each other’s experiences and priorities as an even more immediate way to demonstrate one of the principles or concepts that you’re teaching. A unit in a Biology course focused on sleep, for example, might ask students to try different sleep strategies and log their experiences on a course-wide data platform as a way of generating a dataset that students can then practice analyzing with the tools they are learning in the course.
• Try case teaching / debate. Courses that aspire to teach students how to engage with each other around important civic issues should create opportunities for students to practice actively listening to their peers and to develop the courage to inhabit and declare their positions. They should also seek to create opportunities for students to meet and interact with the widest possible range of their peers from across the university, including peers with different abilities, disciplinary orientations, experiences, and opinions. Case teaching, simulations, and in-class debates are all excellent ways to scaffold students into deeper and more empathetic engagement than they may experience in their (increasingly) online lives—but that engagement requires students' physical presence and undivided attention.
• Make space for Q&A. Even in courses that are not taught highly interactively, lecture is a perfect opportunity for students to ask questions of the instructor and have their confusions, misconceptions, and points of curiosity answered in front of the group. (If one student is confused about a concept, others almost certainly are, as well.) We often hear from instructors that they would like their students to ask them questions in class, but that students remain silent when invited to raise their hands. There may be good  reasons why students decline to pose questions of their instructors, two of which are: (1) they are so confused about the topic that they're not sure how to ask a question; and/or (2) they are reluctant to admit their ignorance in front of their peers, lest they out themselves as the only student who has not understood. There are a couple of relatively simple ways that you might neutralize these obstacles: (1) provide extra structure for the Q&A by polling students about the concept(s) you’ve just explained, thereby allowing them to recognize exactly where they're having trouble (and, therefore, should ask a question); and (2) frame questions as being in service of the group rather than the individual, by (for example) specifying that you will not continue the lecture until you've received a certain number of questions. Students are much more likely to engage if you prompt them with "I'd like to hear three questions about X" rather than "Any questions?" 

Any of these strategies can be an effective way to motivate the value of attendance and in-person engagement. For every one of these strategies, though, an important part of helping students recognize that value is to talk with them about why you value the time you have together and why the goals of the course depend on thinking about the same questions at the same time and in the same place.

How Can I Take Attendance in a Way that Motivates Students?

Once you have some ideas about why you value attendance, and the kinds of interactivity you will foster in your classroom, you'll be in a good position to determine which approach to attendance-taking makes the most sense for you and your teaching staff. Ideally, tracking attendance need not feel like a standalone ritual, but rather can be integrated authentically into the activities in which you want your students to participate. Below we describe several permutations of three main ways in which instructors might take attendance in a large course: polling, minute papers & exit tickets, and check-ins with the teaching staff.

1. Polling. Whether high-tech or low-tech, polling students—either about whether they can identify the correct answer to a finite question, or about how they feel (pre- and/or post-) about an open-ended question—can be an effective way to confirm which of your students are present in class. (Read more about polling.)

2. Minute Papers & Exit Tickets. In-class "minute papers" and "exit tickets" (so called because they involve students submitting a brief reflection/question/takeaway on their way out of class), are great ways to take attendance, to get a read on what your students have understood from your lecture, and to prompt your students to reflect on their learning.

3. Teaching Staff Check-In. Larger lectures already run the risk of feeling anonymous or impersonal. One way to counteract that sense is to have the members of your teaching team greet your students as they enter the lecture hall, ensuring that they’ve created an opportunity for face time with students who might otherwise not have the opportunity to chat during office hours. Though these check-ins may not provide a very large boost to the overall pedagogy of the course, they do provide an opportunity for students and instructors to get to know each other and ask questions in an informal environment.

How Can I Teach Students to Handle Their Absences Well?

Of course, students will still accrue absences, no matter how motivated they are to attend class. One thing you can do to help those students—and help yourself, and your teaching staff—is to offer them clear guidance on how you would like them to be in contact with you about their absence and to make up any work they may have missed. This guidance might include:

• • How absences affect the student's grade. You might adopt a policy like "you are permitted 2 unexcused absences with no consequence to your grade. Every subsequent absence after 2 will result in a ⅓ grade reduction to your participation grade."
  • How students should communicate their absence to instructors. Would you like them to email you directly? A TA? Do you want to know the purpose of their absence (illness, travel, bereavement, etc), or is that irrelevant to how you track absences? 
    • What should this communication include? Would you like them to ask "What did I miss in class?" or "Can you tell me what I missed in class?" Would you rather they give you a plan for catching up on work missed?
    • Note: many absence policies suggest that students must email the instructor before the absence, or within a certain period of time (e.g. 24 hours). This might be appropriate for some types of absences, but may not be possible in the case of some injuries, illnesses, or mental health issues.
      • For these cases, we recommend developing an internal policy across the teaching staff that clarifies how TAs should manage retroactive accommodations.
      • If the student is not managing their class attendance in a satisfactory way (for instance, they have missed multiple classes, and/or aren't in regular email contact), you should complete an Academic Alert Form (and, if they are an undergraduate, you may additionally want to contact their academic advisor directly.)
  • How students should make up for the missed class:
    • Are lecture slides and/or notes uploaded to Moodle—or available upon request?
    • Are any relevant announcements (e.g. about upcoming assignments or class activities) duplicated on Moodle or in the syllabus?
    • Should students request notes from a peer?
    • For lab, active-participant, or discussion-based courses, should the student schedule office hours with their TA?
    • Under what circumstances should a student see the course head in office hours after missing a class?

• What absences (or activities) can be "made up" or "excused"? 

• • If the student missed an exam or quiz, is it possible to make it up?
  • Is there anything the student can do to compensate for the activity they missed, and/or to erase / expunge the absence from their record? For instance, if the class they missed was a trip to the art museum, could the student visit the art museum on their own? If the class was a guest speaker and the talk was recorded, could the student watch the video and turn in a few discussion questions in lieu of missing class?

These expectations can be communicated to students in a policy on the syllabus. For example:

• If you need to miss class, please email me as soon as possible. Please provide your reason for missing class; doctors' notes are not required to "prove" illness. In this email, please indicate how you plan to make up for the absence by reviewing the lecture notes and scheduling an office hours appointment.
• If you are struggling with anxiety or a mental health condition that makes it difficult to relay absences, please inform me (whatever you are comfortable with sharing), so that we can set mutually acceptable expectations over the course of the semester.

Some Sample Syllabus Language about Attendance

General, course-wide policies

1. Learning is a communal process, so your presence is vital. We meet only once a week, and catching up can be tough once you're behind. We understand that "life happens," so everyone gets two "no-questions-asked" absences. Beyond that, if you encounter a medical or personal emergency, please reach out to us as soon as possible. You can still earn your attendance points for excused absences by completing a brief reflection assignment on the week’s readings. Our goal is to keep you on track, not to penalize you for circumstances beyond your control.
2. Attendance is required for all lectures and sections. Students are permitted up to three unexcused absences or latenesses without penalty; however, subsequent unexcused absences will result in a reduction of your final participation grade. For absences due to religious holidays, documented illness, or family emergencies, please notify me or your TA in advance. If you miss a deadline due to a conflict, assignments should be submitted early via Moodle. In cases of prolonged illness, we will work with your Academic Advisor to establish a fair makeup plan.
3. Attendance is required at all meetings of this course, both lectures and sections. More than one absence without a documented excuse may result in a lowered final grade. If you are obliged to miss class because of a serious illness, family emergency, or other extreme circumstance, please contact your instructor as soon as possible to develop a plan to keep you from falling behind. You will be responsible for any material you miss. Religious holidays that are recognized by the university are an acceptable reason for absence. You will be given an opportunity to make up the work. If the university policy does not cover your situation in this matter, please consult your instructor.
4. Since course lectures will cover a range of topics, it is difficult to catch up once you have fallen behind. Please make every effort to come to class. We will be taking attendance in both lecture and discussion section, and you will receive a point for every lecture and section attended. Note that participation will make up 10% of your final grade. We understand that there are sometimes emergencies and extenuating circumstances, and of course, these will be excused at the discretion of the teaching team. If a situation like this comes up for you, you can still get your point for a missed class. You can get your point as long as you (1) let us know and (2) make up for the absence by completing an equivalent assignment. No late work will be accepted unless there is a documented valid medical or personal excuse (e.g. sickness, family emergency).

Policies specifically for labs or discussion sections

1. Lab Attendance & Entry Policy: You are required to attend your specific assigned lab. To ensure safety and instructional flow, lab doors lock exactly 10 minutes after the start of the session; late arrivals will not be admitted and will receive a zero for the day. While we encourage staying home if you are ill, you must use your "lowest-score drop" to cover the absence or coordinate a swap with the Head TF at least 48 hours in advance. Because of strict capacity limits, swaps are a privilege, not a right. No makeup labs will be offered once the week's cycle has concluded.
2. Section Credit & Penalties: Your participation grade is built on consistency. Every student is granted one "crisis week" absence without penalty or documentation required. However, the stakes rise quickly thereafter: a second absence requires formal documentation, a third results in a 50% deduction of your total section points, and a fourth absence results in a zero for the entire participation component of the course. To earn full credit, you must not only be present but also demonstrate active engagement with the assigned texts.
3. Engagement: Think of discussions as the laboratory for your ideas. While attendance is mandatory, we offer flexibility for the occasional unavoidable conflict. You may miss one section during the term—no questions asked—though we strongly advise against it, as the material discussed here directly informs your final projects. Beyond this single grace instance, additional absences will only be excused with formal documentation. Please note that while there are no makeup sections, we are happy to provide sample data or notes if you reach out to a member of the teaching team in advance of a missed meeting.

An Attendance Policy Generator

Would you like some assistance in brainstorming an attendance policy for your syllabus? Click below to engage in a guided conversation with the CTL’s custom chatbot designed to help you hone your policy.

Chat with our Attendance Policy Generator