Attending class could improve your grades !

Would it surprise you to learn that successful students attend class regularly?  Probably not, but after looking at the scores for the first test in my corporate law class this semester I think some of my students could use some persuasive evidence.

Students:  Please know that I have absolutely no interest in tricking you.  When I say it's important to attend class, I mean it.

I post PowerPoint files online ahead of all of my lectures to help my students focus on understanding the content of the lectures without the pressure to copy every slide.  I believe this practice is pedagogically sound, but it risks certain tradeoffs.  For example, I know some students reason that the slides are the lecture so it's unnecessary to attend class as long as the slides are accessible.  These students miss out on all the verbal content of my lectures as well as the examples I write on the board.  Perhaps some students diligently obtain lecture notes and even listen to audio recordings that were made by their classmates when they are unable to attend -- but realistically not very many students will take such efforts, especially for more than one or two missed classes.  Students who don't attend class often are also at a disadvantage because they cannot judge the relative importance of all the slide materials.  From time to time I tell my students things like, "This slide is SUPER IMPORTANT, you might want to put a giant star on it because it is the key to understanding this topic," or "I won't test you on this aspect, but I want to explain it so you will understand how this works in real life."  Of course other things that only happen during class time, like questions and discussion, will not be reflected in the slides.

You might need more encouragement if you don't already trust me.  Take a look at the following data that I compiled from two previous semesters of law clerk students in my corporate law course (LAWS115).  I only included students who completed the final exam in this course (n=107) since a handful of students withdrew part-way through or did not complete the course for various reasons.  Blue triangles represent students who passed the course, and red Xs represent students who were not successful

.

Consider the following observations:

1.  A positive correlation exists between lecture attendance and final grades.

This means that good attendance was consistently linked to better outcomes, but it does not conclusively prove that attendance caused these outcomes.

2.  Students who attended exactly the same number of classes obtained different marks.

While I didn't analyze which particular classes students attended or missed, this finding reinforces the idea that attendance alone is not sufficient to produce strong outcomes.  There is great diversity among students, and some excel at test-taking whereas others do not.

3.  Everyone who attended at least 73% of lectures passed the course.

These data only pertain to the specific students in my sample so attending 73% of lectures doesn't guarantee that anyone will pass in the future, but it's worth noticing.  Moreover, everyone who attended at least 80% of lectures obtained at least a C.

4.  A minority of students achieve high grades without attending many classes.

I know some of my students who had poor attendance were repeating the course to improve their grades; perhaps they just wanted another chance to tackle the evaluations.  Others were probably studying well, which includes completing the readings and asking for help when it's needed.

If you've tricked yourself into believing that your college courses are nothing more than a collection of PowerPoint slides, change your mind now.