In the nick of time...

Here we are in the nick of time for this week’s blog. Twenty minutes may seem like a long time for some. As a runner, I use a 20 minute mark as the beginning of my countdown to the finish the same way some would use a 30 second countdown.

This week’s blog will discuss excuses, class attendance, and student communication.

I’m heading off the starting line this week with student excuses.

“My dog died last week that is why I haven’t been in class.” This was my first excuse from one of my student’s. I was skeptical of this one especially since it came a week later. As a dog owner, I probably would have been sympathetic had an email come a little sooner. I confirmed my hunch about this excuse when I asked about the dog’s breed and he didn’t know. What happened to the simple excuses like “I was sick”?

McKeachie’s section on student excuses cited research indicating that the use of fraudulent excuses was almost equal to legitimate excuses. McKeachie suggests that excuses are usually because students need more time and recommends building into the course smaller due dates for larger projects. I think having smaller deadlines is a good idea because it helps students with time management and creates steps to complete a project. I think creating steps to a project can be implemented in the communication field, specifically in public speaking, by requiring students to have interviews done 10 days prior to the due date of the speech. Another way would be to break the speech into steps. An example would be to have students hand in their thesis statements, then their main points, and finally their reference pages. This would help students write sections of their speech over several class periods instead of the night before.

However, I think there are more reasons students use excuses to miss class than simply needing more time. I think excuses are used in an attempt to legitimize their reason for missing class.

Second point for the day, or mile 13.1, is class attendance.

First Day to Final Grade says instructors should spell out attendance policies and state how many absences are acceptable. The text continues by saying that students miss class because they either don’t care or they are having personal problems. The text gives several ways to handle the situation if the student is having a personal issue. The key part of this is diagnosing the reason for missing class correctly. I think this information is useful because the suggestions on how to diagnose the problem and communicate with the student.

The text suggests giving students three absences from the class. I did not use this tactic this semester and think I may try it next semester. This information is useful to me because I struggle with deciding what is an excusable reason to miss class is. I understand that life doesn’t always go as planned or that there may simply be events that are important to students. My struggle on attendance comes from being a student myself and recognizing that being a student is not the only aspect of my life. However, I do think that the student role should be a top priority. I think having excusable attendance policy, like three classes, would be beneficial to students in all majors because it acknowledges that things may come up throughout the semester. It would also be helpful to me as an instructor because it would remove the complication of deciphering excuses.

Mile 26 brings me to the final point today and that is interacting and emailing students. First Day to Final Grade gives suggestions about how to handle email communication with students and interactions with students when they are emotional.

I think the information is important because when dealing with both email and emotions, it is important to make sure that we do not fuel a situation. I believe that people have a tendency to say things in email that they would not in person and that email messages may be misinterpreted. I think it is important to keep copies of all communication with students, especially if the student seems to have issues with the class.

I found the examples of how to handle communication with emotionally charged students helpful. The examples were clear about how to redirect the student’s focus back to the issue of mastering the material.

Crossing the finish line of today’s blog, I think that excuses used by students are inter-related to class attendance. Needing more time for assignments, not caring about the class or having personal problems were listed as the main reasons for students using excuses to miss class. The final point, for today is being aware of the communication that occurs between students both in email and in person. When emailing it is important to make sure that the message is clear and not to informal. And if a student is emotional, try to redirect their focus back to their comprehension of the material.

Tops excuses for missing class