Attendance Monitoring as an aid to Retention International Assessment & Retention Conference 12 th June 2009 Mark Byrne

Contents: What constitutes attendance? Who wants to know what? Attendance & Retention SMART use of Smart Technology

What constitutes attendance? What is attendance? The act of attending The persons or number of persons that are present The frequency with which a person is present.

Sample Attendance Policies 1.The minimum attendance is 70% but departments may, if they wish, stipulate a higher percentage of attendance. Several programmes require 100% attendance, and if this should apply to you, you will be informed by your Department 2.Harvard Law School - In cases of substantial de-linquency in attendance, the Law School may, after appropriate procedures, treat students as having withdrawn from the course, seminar, or reading group in question. 3.You are reminded that unauthorised absence may affect your course progress and if applicable any government funding 4.If you are repeatedly absent from tutorials or required classes without due cause, then you will be in danger of being asked to leave the College: of being 'sent down‘.

Sample contd. 5.All students in the School of Education should be aware that any problems of non-attendance may result in some form of penalty, ultimately leading possibly to failure of a course (or courses) - even if all formal assessments have been carried out to a satisfactory standard. 6.Where your attendance fails to meet the minimum required to meet the learning outcomes of the module (as published in the module/ subject/programme handbook) you may be excluded from the assessment and be graded X in the module. If you receive an X grade you may have the opportunity of taking the whole module again with permission from the Curriculum Leader, without grade penalty, though you will have to pay the module registration fee.

Who wants to know what? Usual internal performance/quality assurance/comparative reasons Usual external performance/quality assurance/comparative reasons And more recent:

UK Market changes/challenges

Attendance & Retention What you recruit you’d better retain Early warning system Stop silent withdrawal Recruit to replace losses* Attainment National Student Survey Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education Professional accreditation requirements Audits (UKBA, HEFCE) Caution – student attendance low!

Attitudes of staff & students

Is there an issue? Policy not in line with practice Incomplete/inaccurate data collection Intervention systems focus on negative aspects Intervention not systematic across the institution Lag time between non-attendance and consequence Communication breakdown

SMART use of Smart technology Specific –What data do you need now and in the future –Just attendance or integrated? Measurable –Is student X on campus? –Is student X attending 80% of programmed events? –Has student X submitted an assessment –VLE Attainable Swipe or proximity Data from other systems Realistic –Lecturer engagement!! –Forgotten cards etc Timely –Frequency –Promote action

Conclusions  Demand for data and information  SMART data gathering  Performance measures  Audits/Reviews/Publicity DATA PROTECTION?

Conference Announcement Retention in Tough Times Win-win strategies for students and institutions Southampton Solent University, UK 8 th /9 th September 2009