The Teaching Commons Journal Club Blog: March 2018

Alice Kim, Teaching Commons

During our March Journal Club meeting, we discussed “The effects of attendance on academic performance: panel data evidence for introductory microeconomics” (http://teachingcommons.yorku.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Effects-of-Attendance-on-Academic-Performance.pdf). The study was an investigation on the impact of attendance on students’ learning, and attepted to control for unobservable factors that are correlated with attendance (e.g., ability, effort, and motivation). The general finding was that attendance does, indeed, have a significant impact on student learning, above and beyond the proxy measures that were used to account for unobservable student characteristics, namely, students’ ability, effort, and motivation. While this general finding made good sense to all in attendance, it also sparked very interesting discussion in terms of interpretation and application of this general finding.

Firstly, although this specific study discussed at our last Journal Club meeting showed a positive and significant relation between attendance and learning (measured by students’ test scores), other studies did not find a significant relation between attendance and academic achievement (Eisen et al., 2015; Hammen & Kelland, 1994; McConnell & Lamphear, 1969). In light of the mixed findings presented by past research, our Journal Club discussion included the question of whether we should be focusing on students’ attendance or their engagement while in class. Attendance is typically quantified based on whether students are physically (or virturally) present. However, all who were present at our Journal Club meeting agreed that what is more important is what students are doing while they are in class and, ultimately, whether students are engaged in the lesson. For example, Student A could be sitting in the front row of your class but, at the same time, not attend to one word of anything that was said during the lesson. Student B, on the other hand, sitting a few rows behind Student A, could have been captivated throughout the entire class, clinging on to every word that was said. In this extreme scenario, both students were physically present, but only one student actually engaged with the lesson.

Another interesting point of discussion centered on whether attendance to lectures should be made mandatory. Some points that were offered from our group included the fact that students should be given the freedom to choose whether they attend lectures, especially given that life situations vary across students, alongside the sentiment that students should not be penalized if they have to miss a class. In contrast, others thought that making attendance mandatory might help students develop good habits that will ultimately help them succeed in their studies, particularly if attendance was made mandatory for first-year courses. Overall, all opinions were highly valued and contributed to a very thoughtful and engaging discussion.

How have or how are you going to apply ideas from this article and/or our discussion to your practice?

How might your students benefit from this research?

What opportunities can you see for further research or exploration on this topic?

Please join the conversation using the comments box below.

The Journal Club is an opportunity for colleagues interested in exploring innovation in teaching and learning to collaboratively read and discuss literature in the field. Participants are provided with a journal article identified as a topic of potential interest to be discussed in an informal gathering at the Teaching Commons.

Do you have an article to share or a topic you would like to discuss? Are you interested in leading a conversation of the Journal Club? Contact Lisa Endersby, Educational Developer (lendersb@yorku.ca).

References

Eisen, D. B., Schupp, C. W., Isseroff, R. R., Ibrahimi, O. A., Ledo, L., & Armstrong, A. W.

(2015). Does class attendance matter? Results from a second‐year medical school dermatology cohort study.International Journal of Dermatology, 54(7), 807-816.

Hammen, C. S., & Kelland, J. L. (1994). Attendance and grades in a human physiology

course. Advances in Physiology Education, 267, 105-108.

McConnell, C. R., & Lamphear C. (1969). Teaching principles of economics without

lectures. Journal of Economic Education, 1, 20-32.