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Student and Faculty Perceptions of Attendance Policies at a Polytechnic University

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Conference

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Seattle, Washington

Publication Date

June 14, 2015

Start Date

June 14, 2015

End Date

June 17, 2015

ISBN

978-0-692-50180-1

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Examining "Big" Data

Tagged Division

Educational Research and Methods

Page Count

25

Page Numbers

26.1410.1 - 26.1410.25

DOI

10.18260/p.24747

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/24747

Download Count

803

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Paper Authors

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Loraine Lowder Southern Polytechnic State University

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M. Loraine Lowder is an Assistant Professor in the Systems and Mechanical Engineering Department at Southern Polytechnic State University. She received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dr. Lowder’s research interests include image processing, computer-aided engineering, and cardiovascular biomechanics. She is also interested in performing research in the area of the scholarship of teaching and learning.

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Adeel Khalid Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering & Engineering Technology

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Adeel Khalid, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Systems Engineering
Office: 678-915-7241

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Daniel R Ferreira Southern Polytechnic State University

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Dr. Dan Ferreira is an assistant professor of environmental science at Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, GA. He is a passionate science educator who believes in giving his students a practical, real-world oriented learning experience. Dr. Ferreira's research focuses on adsorption and ion-exchange reactions of cations at the soil mineral/water interface.

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Jeanne Law Bohannon Southern Polytechnic State University

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Beth Stutzmann Southern Polytechnic State University & Fulton County Schools

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Dr. Beth Stutzmann, is currently Program Specialist Fine Arts for Fulton County Schools. She was the Director of Bands for ten years at Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU) in Marietta, Georgia. At SPSU, in 2011, she earned the Outstanding Faculty Award. She is a graduate of The Boston Conservatory of Music (BMEd); earned a master's degree from Oklahoma City University in Horn performance and in 2010 was awarded her Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Education degree from Shenandoah Conservatory, Winchester, VA.

In 2012, Dr. Stutzmann received the Governor's Teaching Fellowship Award and she also received a grant from the Adult Learning Consortium, University System of Georgia. In 2013, she received a mini-grant from SPSU’s Center of Teaching Excellence for Flipped Classroom Pedagogy Research & Retention. She has many published works and presents at local and national conferences.

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Mir M. Atiqullah Kennesaw State University

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Dr. Mir Atiqullah is a professor of Mechanical Engineering in Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology at Kennesaw Sate University, GA. He graduated from Purdue university and has over 20 years of teaching experience. His areas of teaching and research include materials, mechanics, machine design, capstone design, optimization, and engineering education.

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Rajnish Singh Southern polytechnic state university

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Tien Yee Southern Polytechnic State University

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Dr. Yee is an Assistant Professor in Southern Polytechnic State University

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Keshav Raj Acharya Southern Polytechnic State University

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Craig A Chin Southern Polytechnic College of Engr and Engr Tech

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Craig A. Chin received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Florida International University in 2006. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the electrical and computer engineering technology at Southern Polytechnic State University. His research interests include biomedical signal processing, pattern recognition, and active learning techniques applied to engineering education.

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M. A. Karim P.E. Southern Polytechnic College of Engr and Engr Tech Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-9663-4443

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M. A. Karim had his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) in 1989 and 1992, respectively. He spent about six years as a full-time faculty at BUET. He came to USA in 1995 and finished his Ph.D. in Civil/Environmental Engineering from Cleveland State University, Ohio in 2000. He worked about three years for ALLTEL Information Services in Twinsburg, Ohio as an Applications Programmer. Then he worked about eight years (in two different times) for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ) as a Senior Environmental Engineer (Solid Waste Permit Writer) and taught at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) as an Affiliate Professor before he went to Trine University in January 2008, as a full-time Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering. He taught part-time at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) while employed at Trine University. During his time at Trine University, he taught a course for VCU on-line using Wimba class room. He also taught at Stratford University, Richmond, Virginia campus as an adjunct faculty while working for VDEQ. Since Fall of 2011, he has been working for Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU), Marietta, Georgia as a full-time faculty in Civil and Construction Engineering (Since January 2015, it is Kennesaw State University). He is a registered professional engineer for the State of the Commonwealth of Virginia. He has more than twelve journal and proceeding publications and three professional reports in the area of soil and sediment remediation, environmental management, and statistical hydrology. He is a member of ASCE and ASEE.

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Robert Shegiharu Keyser Southern Polytechnic State University

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Dr. Keyser earned his PhD in Industrial Engineering from the University of Tennessee. His research interests include Lean manufacturing, statistics, reliability, human factors, and organizational behavior.

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Donna Colebeck

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Abstract

Student and Faculty Perceptions of Attendance Policies at a Polytechnic UniversityThe goal of an attendance policy is to improve the academic success of students. However,current literature does not provide clear conclusions whether enforcing an attendance policyactually improves student performance. This study explores student and faculty perceptionsregarding the utility of attendance policies in undergraduate courses at a polytechnic university.Anonymous surveys were completed by 89 faculty members and 455 responses from fiveschools (Engineering, Engineering Technology and Management, Computer and SoftwareEngineering, Architecture, and Arts and Sciences) on a single campus. Comparisons between theperceptions of students and faculty members are presented, as are comparisons between theperceptions of lower-level and upper-level students. Variations in perceptions based on major arealso highlighted. Finally, trends in perceptions regarding attendance policies in lower-levelversus upper-level undergraduate courses are revealed.Students, regardless of major, class standing, or course level, reported attending more classes incourses that had attendance policies. The most significant impact of an attendance policy onclass attendance was observed at the freshman level. While 84% of freshmen reported attendingat least 90% of the classes in a course with an attendance policy, only 67% reported attending atthat rate in a course without one. Qualitative data containing student and faculty attitudestowards attendance policies are also analyzed and discussed.Even though class attendance appeared to have improved as a result of attendance policies,students’ perceptions about these policies varied significantly. Overall, the majority of students(51%) believed that, for a course with an attendance policy, the policy positively affected finalgrades. For a course without an attendance policy, the majority (57%) felt that the lack of apolicy had no impact of final grades. Faculty members’ perceptions about attendance policieslikewise varied. Overall, 61% of the faculty members surveyed reported having an attendancepolicy in one or more of their courses. The majority of faculty members believed that anattendance policy led to improvements in students’ grades in lower-level courses, but not inupper-level courses. Collectively, this study can help instructors make better informed decisionsabout the use of attendance policies in their courses.

Lowder, L., & Khalid, A., & Ferreira, D. R., & Bohannon, J. L., & Stutzmann, B., & Atiqullah, M. M., & Singh, R., & Yee, T., & Acharya, K. R., & Chin, C. A., & Karim, M. A., & Keyser, R. S., & Colebeck, D. (2015, June), Student and Faculty Perceptions of Attendance Policies at a Polytechnic University Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.24747

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2015 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015