It's time to end the consensual hallucination of fall in-person classes

[Aster]

We used to have an extremely popular adjunct professor at Big Urban College that awarded 40% of the course grade from class attendance. That's right, show up to class and receive academic credit!

It is not surprising why this adjunct professor was extremely popular. I'm glad that he's gone now... his own class' grades were so sky-high that they were skewing the aggregate course grade averages for the entire campus.

[Caracal]

We used to have an extremely popular adjunct professor at Big Urban College that awarded 40% of the course grade from class attendance. That's right, show up to class and receive academic credit!

It is not surprising why this adjunct professor was extremely popular. I'm glad that he's gone now... his own class' grades were so sky-high that they were skewing the aggregate course grade averages for the entire campus.

Yeah, you don't have to count attendance for very much to get it to motivate students.

[marshwiggle]

We used to have an extremely popular adjunct professor at Big Urban College that awarded 40% of the course grade from class attendance. That's right, show up to class and receive academic credit!

It is not surprising why this adjunct professor was extremely popular. I'm glad that he's gone now... his own class' grades were so sky-high that they were skewing the aggregate course grade averages for the entire campus.

Does any institution have a policy placing any sort of upper limit on how much of a grade can be for "attendance" or "participation"?

[Aster]

We used to have an extremely popular adjunct professor at Big Urban College that awarded 40% of the course grade from class attendance. That's right, show up to class and receive academic credit!

It is not surprising why this adjunct professor was extremely popular. I'm glad that he's gone now... his own class' grades were so sky-high that they were skewing the aggregate course grade averages for the entire campus.

Does any institution have a policy placing any sort of upper limit on how much of a grade can be for "attendance" or "participation"?

If it's part of grading, it's part of curriculum. And if it's part of curriculum, it falls under Academic Freedom, and is mostly left to professors to individually self-manage. But unfortunately, some people abuse their position and abuse their job responsibilities. It's like any other job I suppose. Their are always co-workers that you shake your head at, muttering under your breath "You are an embarrassment to the profession".

[Anon1787]

We used to have an extremely popular adjunct professor at Big Urban College that awarded 40% of the course grade from class attendance. That's right, show up to class and receive academic credit!

It is not surprising why this adjunct professor was extremely popular. I'm glad that he's gone now... his own class' grades were so sky-high that they were skewing the aggregate course grade averages for the entire campus.

Does any institution have a policy placing any sort of upper limit on how much of a grade can be for "attendance" or "participation"?

The closest thing to that at my university is a limit that no single test of competence may count for more than 1/3rd of the final grade because they don't like high-stakes testing (and there are administrators tasked with the job of reviewing syllabi to ensure that they meet all of the various requirements). I don't know if the limit applies to an attendance grade, but it might.

[spork]

College of Wooster has ended in-person instruction for the rest of the semester. Students are still allowed to live on campus (?).

[Caracal]

College of Wooster has ended in-person instruction for the rest of the semester. Students are still allowed to live on campus (?).

It would be pretty unpleasant to demand that students all leave. Along with the students who actually might not have anywhere safe to go, there are others who might just find it extremely inconvenient or difficult. I assume that if you end in person classes, you'll have an exodus from campus anyway and you'll reduce a lot of the risk.

[Hibush]

I assume that if you end in person classes, you'll have an exodus from campus anyway and you'll reduce a lot of the risk.

That depends entirely on where they go and who the interact with when they get there.

A problematic outcome is when students remain in the college town, living in off-campus apartments. Without the constant reinforcement of good practices they had on campus, their vigilance drops and they facilitate community spread and introductions from outside the community.

[spork]

College of Wooster has ended in-person instruction for the rest of the semester. Students are still allowed to live on campus (?).

It would be pretty unpleasant to demand that students all leave. Along with the students who actually might not have anywhere safe to go, there are others who might just find it extremely inconvenient or difficult. I assume that if you end in person classes, you'll have an exodus from campus anyway and you'll reduce a lot of the risk.

This is exactly what most colleges and universities did last March. And we now know from published research that college students traveling to congregate in new locations can lead to an increase in infections. 

[Cheerful]

This is exactly what most colleges and universities did last March. And we now know from published research that college students traveling to congregate in new locations can lead to an increase in infections. 

While one-time test results aren't always accurate, shouldn't all colleges test all students in the days leading up to the mass exodus back to home towns just before Thanksgiving?  Will they?  No.

[Aster]

You'd think it would be a simple matter to test everyone, but it's not.

Logistics would be a real PITA, and might not even be viable at some institutions. Large institutions and predominantly commuter institutions would be particularly difficult.

Expense would be another burden. With so many universities cash-strapped and government aid running out or already gone, releasing extra money for mass testing might not be available.

Mass-covid testing of college students can also be complicated by regional politics, particularly at public institutions. If your governor is trying to hide the state's daily covid reports, force campus football stadiums to open at 100% capacity, and draft legislation "protecting student's rights to not wear masks in classrooms", you might get pushback from your politically appointed leaders against testing more students for covid. Because more testing would identify more positive cases, and generate negative publicity.

[Cheerful]

You'd think it would be a simple matter to test everyone, but it's not.

If your governor is trying to hide the state's daily covid reports....

....Because more testing would identify more positive cases, and generate negative publicity.

No, I don't think it's simple.  Not only some governors.  Many university leaders aren't transparent about COVID numbers -- trying to avoid alerting stakeholders, negative publicity, and loss of revenue due to housing refunds.  Above all, universities want housing money and student retention.

As analysts tracking things across the US are well-aware, many universities continue to handle COVID matters horribly.

[Cheerful]

We used to have an extremely popular adjunct professor at Big Urban College that awarded 40% of the course grade from class attendance. That's right, show up to class and receive academic credit!

It is not surprising why this adjunct professor was extremely popular. I'm glad that he's gone now... his own class' grades were so sky-high that they were skewing the aggregate course grade averages for the entire campus.

Yeah, you don't have to count attendance for very much to get it to motivate students.

Getting off-topic from the thread but I wouldn't judge that professor's grade percentage for attendance until I after I knew what he required of students during each class meeting, what the other components of the course were, and how those components were linked to class attendance.

[Aster]

We used to have an extremely popular adjunct professor at Big Urban College that awarded 40% of the course grade from class attendance. That's right, show up to class and receive academic credit!

It is not surprising why this adjunct professor was extremely popular. I'm glad that he's gone now... his own class' grades were so sky-high that they were skewing the aggregate course grade averages for the entire campus.

Yeah, you don't have to count attendance for very much to get it to motivate students.

Getting off-topic from the thread but I wouldn't judge that professor's grade percentage for attendance until I after I knew what he required of students during each class meeting, what the other components of the course were, and how those components were linked to class attendance.

Here, I'll summarize this lousy excuse for a professional educator's curriculum plan.
40% of grade - attendance checks. No work. Just roll call checks.
60% of grade - 3 exams, with questions all pulled verbatim from master test banks that were fully available to students and encouraged for students to "review" ahead of time. Exam test question banks were just left on the LMS, never changed, never rotated.

Typical amount of "A" grade distributions for this instructor's courses: 90%
Typical amount of "A" grade distributions for most everybody else who taught this course: 10-20%

[Caracal]

We used to have an extremely popular adjunct professor at Big Urban College that awarded 40% of the course grade from class attendance. That's right, show up to class and receive academic credit!

It is not surprising why this adjunct professor was extremely popular. I'm glad that he's gone now... his own class' grades were so sky-high that they were skewing the aggregate course grade averages for the entire campus.

Yeah, you don't have to count attendance for very much to get it to motivate students.

Getting off-topic from the thread but I wouldn't judge that professor's grade percentage for attendance until I after I knew what he required of students during each class meeting, what the other components of the course were, and how those components were linked to class attendance.

Here, I'll summarize this lousy excuse for a professional educator's curriculum plan.
40% of grade - attendance checks. No work. Just roll call checks.
60% of grade - 3 exams, with questions all pulled verbatim from master test banks that were fully available to students and encouraged for students to "review" ahead of time. Exam test question banks were just left on the LMS, never changed, never rotated.

Typical amount of "A" grade distributions for this instructor's courses: 90%
Typical amount of "A" grade distributions for most everybody else who taught this course: 10-20%

Yes, that doesn't mass muster. I see cheerful's point, however. You could imagine someone who had extremely hard tests and used a hefty attendance grades to both encourage students to come to class and give everyone a break.