To succeed, whether it is at work, school, or playing games, there are a certain number of rules and regulations that you must follow, and university is no exception. Before you start your course, it’s a good idea to become familiar with the regulations you are expected to follow. One of the key rules is that you need to keep track of your attendance.
Stop and Reflect:
Attendance matters!
Have a think about how attendance is understood in your current educational or work setting. You might find it helpful to reflect on the following questions:
- Do you have a form tutor who takes a register in the morning and afternoon?
- Do you need to sign in electronically?
- Do you have a job where you need to log in?
- How do you let people know if you’re not going to be there?
- Why do you think that attendance monitoring is important?
It’s a good idea to consider how you feel about attendance and attendance monitoring, and how important attendance is to you. Do you like to attend as much as possible? Are you planning on improving your attendance at university?
Stop and Reflect:
How do you anticipate attendance and attendance monitoring changing at university?
Revisit the KWLH grid that you started in Topic 1 of this RISE self-study pack. Add to your W-column anything that you want to know about attendance monitoring at university. You might focus on things that you are currently unsure about.
Don’t worry if you’re not sure how things might work at university, the following video will provide you with a quick run-down.
Watch: Rise Academy Attendance
Watch this short video for an overview of how attendance might be monitored at your university. We will be drawing on how things are done at Manchester Metropolitan University, but the general principles might be similar to the university you are planning to attend.
Now have a read through the following Q&A which addresses some of the most common questions that students have about attendance at university.
Q. My friend doesn’t attend much and gets good grades. Do I really need to attend?
A. Some people can get by and do well despite not attending much. However, lack of contact with tutors and other students makes this so much harder. Your friend may have done even better if they had attended their classes. Aside from wanting to give yourself the best chance at as good a grade as possible, you are paying to be at university, so you should get your money’s worth by participating as much as you can.
Q. Does attendance contribute directly to my grade?
A. No. While some countries count good attendance towards your grades, this isn’t the case in the UK. However, if you are absent a lot it will be followed up by your tutors. You will get more information about this in the next sprint.
Q. I have a long-term health condition that means my attendance could be patchy. Will this be held against me?
A. Not at all. Your university wants to make sure everyone has access to learning regardless of their circumstances. If you have a health condition or disability that could impact on your attendance, get in touch with the university before you start. They will have teams that support students with disabilities, and they can put measures in place for you to ensure that you have all the assistance you need: Disability Support | Manchester Metropolitan University (mmu.ac.uk).
Q. I am an English Literature student and I have been told I only have to attend 8 hours of timetabled sessions a week; how will I fill my time outside that?
A. Some courses have more contact hours than others. For example, if you are going to study a science-related subject you might find your week filled with lab sessions and tutorials, whereas if you’re studying something like English Literature that doesn’t have a practical component, you may only have a few lectures and seminars timetabled in. However, that doesn’t mean these subjects are easier or require less work! It is expected that you spend the time that you don’t have timetabled sessions doing additional reading and research for your course.
Q. Will I really get marks taken off if I’m even an hour late submitting my assignments?
A. Yes, marks will be deducted. There is usually a sliding scale for deductions, so the later you submit the more marks that will be taken off. A very late submission might get zero marks. This is why it’s so important to pay close attention to the date and time you have to submit. If you know you won’t be able to submit in time, make sure you notify your tutor as soon as you can. You may be able to qualify for an extension, for example due to an unforeseen situation.
Q. Do I have to attend absolutely everything?
A. You should attend all your timetabled sessions unless you are informed otherwise by your tutor. Your tutor may on occasion inform you that a session is optional, but the session will still appear on your timetable. It’s a good idea to still attend these sessions as they are designed to support you, but you probably won’t be expected to register your attendance.
Q. Why do I have to attend if the lectures are recorded?
A. Many universities record lectures so that people who couldn’t attend can catch up. However, watching a recording only gives you a small part of the experience. When you watch a recording on screen the communication is only one way. You don’t have the opportunity to ask the tutor if there’s something you don’t understand or talk through the topic with other students.
Note:
For more information about how recorded lectures work, and what the benefits and disadvantages are, you can read this blog post: Insights from literature on lecture capture | Learning & Teaching News (wordpress.com).
- Powell, S. (2017). Learning and Teaching News. Manchester Metropolitan University
The next sprint will go over the regulations around attendance at university. We will particularly focus on how your university might monitor your attendance, and we’ll discuss what might happen if you don’t engage with your timetabled sessions.