Does attendance matter in a Problem-Based Learning environment? In the latest contribution to the FASoS Teaching & Learning Blog, Arjan Schakel and Patrick Bijsmans provide new evidence on the effect of attendance on study success from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. They contextualise the discussions on attendance, and present options for further research and refinement of the faculty’s attendance policy.
The abolishment of minimum attendance requirements at FASoS just over two years ago has been a recurring topic of discussion. Literature on students’ persistence and results often highlights attendance as important, because absenteeism would increase the risk of dropout. Intuitively, one would expect attendance to be even more important in programmes with an active learning environment, such as PBL. Research finds that active learning environments have a positive effect on students’ study success, yet few studies have looked at the importance of (non-)attendance in such learning environments.
In 2018, Patrick Bijsmans and Arjan Schakel published an article in Higher Education that addresses this gap. In this blog, they provide new data to contextualise the discussions on attendance, and present options for further research and refinement of the faculty’s attendance policy.
Join the debate in the comments or contribute your own blog entry to the FASoS Teaching & Learning Blog! You can also follow us on Twitter @FASoS_TL_Blog.
