Many instructors struggle to get students to come to class and participate once they’re there. This is not a new challenge – student engagement has been declining for years, a trend exacerbated by the pandemic experience and an ever-changing array of technological distractions.
On this page you’ll find information about UW’s attendance policy and strategies for promoting in-class engagement and participation.
Attendance at UW
Taking attendance is not required by the university. Instructors are allowed to take attendance and to grade students on attendance (see updated information on the UW Registrar’s Syllabus policies, guidelines, and resources webpage). If you decide to grade attendance, be sure to clearly state your expectations in the syllabus.
Because a student’s final grade should primarily reflect whether the student has met course learning outcomes, avoid creating a “zero tolerance” attendance policy or overweighting attendance to the point where a single absence can result in failure.
Getting students to participate
While clear expectations regarding attendance may help get students in the door, it won’t necessarily result in active engagement. The strategies below can help boost students’ motivation to engage. You don’t have to incorporate everything all at once. Start simple and “level up” when you can.
Talk with students about their experiences engaging/participating in other classes. Acknowledge that engaging can be challenging for some folks but can get easier with practice.
Regardless of whether your course is online or in person, clearly state in the syllabus how you expect students to engage during class. Help students understand how your expectations benefit them. For example, remind students that engagement helps them learn and develop skills that contribute to career success.
- Easy: Explain the importance of your expectations in your syllabus.
- Level-up: Ask students to reflect on how your expectations for engagement align with their academic goals and career aspirations.
Regardless of who your students are (first years or seasoned grad students) or where you’re engaging them (online or in person), design opportunities early in the term for them to connect and invest in the class community.
- Easy: Develop a low-stakes community building activity for the first week of class.
- Level-up: Work with students to create community agreements that set expectations for how they will interact and engage.
Asking students to actively participate in the learning process – as opposed to sitting quietly and listening – demonstrates that what happens in class can’t be easily replicated at home.
- Easy: Give students a poll with a challenging practice quiz question. After they do the poll, ask students to discuss their answer with a classmate, and then allow them to re-vote after that discussion. Students can often teach each other on the spot!
- Level-up: Ask students to freewrite about how they studied for an exam, how they felt about their performance, and what they might do differently next time. Skim through their reflections and at the start of the next class, share some themes with the students and ask them to develop a study plan with a classmate.
Creating group work assignments with clear roles can help students understand expectations, re-learn how to interact, and hold each other accountable.
- Easy: Integrate low-stakes think-pair-share activities or other forms of collaboration into your lecture cadence.
- Level-up: Design a problem-based collaboration to help students learn how to engage over an extended period of time.
- Easy: Reframe office hours as “student hours” and invite students to meet with you at least once during the term.
- Level up: Analyze your gradebook or Canvas course data to identify students who need additional contact. Learn how to use Canvas check in with students.