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Attendance - Health Science Professional

Health Science Professional Attendance Policy

The health science professional attendance policy specifies the role of students, instructors and university administrators in cases when students are absent from one or more classes.

WITHDRAWAL FROM A COURSE DUE TO POOR ATTENDANCE

Students are responsible for attending all class meetings for courses in which they are registered.1 Any absence, regardless of the reason, prevents students from getting the full benefit of the course and, as such, no distinction is made between excused and unexcused absences for purposes of recording attendance.

VIOLATION OF ATTENDANCE POLICY

The university does not require faculty to take attendance; however, given the importance of attendance to the mastery of class materials, faculty may include in their syllabi the consequences of excessive absences.

1. For courses in which attendance is regularly taken, an instructor or college office may withdraw students from a course due to excessive absences and assign a grade of WA (Withdrawn-Excessive Absences). In these cases, instructors must document the dates of absenteeism and the last date of attendance/participation.

  • Such action may be initiated, for example, in a 16-week course when the number of class hours missed exceeds twice the number of course credits. As such, students may be assigned the grade of WA when more than 6 classes have been missed in a 3-credit course, when more than 8 classes have been missed in a 4-credit course and when more than 10 classes have been missed in a 5-credit course.
  • As examples: students who miss more than 6 classes in a 3-credit course that meets 50 minutes, 3 times per week, are considered to have excessive absences and may be assigned a WA. Likewise, students who miss more than 4 classes in a 3-credit course that meets 75 minutes, 2 times per week, are considered to have excessive absences and may be assigned a WA.

2. For those courses in which attendance is not taken on a regular basis, an instructor or college office may withdraw a student when it becomes apparent through missed assignments that the student has excessive absences or has abandoned the class.

In all cases, students’ last date of attendance is determined by the last date of participation in an academically-related activity for the course including, but not limited to attendance, an exam or quiz, a submitted assignment, participation in a lab activity or in computer-assisted instruction.

Students assume all consequences that ensue as a result of receiving any withdrawal grade. These consequences include but are not limited to: a delay in graduation, loss of eligibility for certain scholarships or financial aid, loss of full-time student status.

ONLINE COURSES AND ATTENDANCE

Online courses at Marquette University are designed to be highly interactive and collaborative, as authentic learning takes place within a social context. To help ensure an effective learning experience, all students in online courses are expected to participate on a regular basis. Participation is defined as “submitting required work as assigned; actively contributing and responding to fellow students and the instructor in a timely basis, as set forth by online discussion guidelines in each course.” Failure to participate may be counted toward the number of absences allowed before a WA is assigned as described above.

If technical circumstances prevent students from entering the course site for a period of time, it is the responsibility of students to contact the instructor in a timely manner, if the student wishes to receive credit for any missed online activities.

ADDITIONAL ATTENDANCE POLICIES

The "Violation of Attendance Policy" and "Online Courses and Attendance" sections represent university attendance standards. Each college/school may enforce additional attendance policies for certain courses; consult your college/school handbook, college/school section of the current bulletin or the individual course syllabus/attendance policy for more information.

EXTENDED ABSENCES

In the event that students are gone for an extended period, where two weeks or more classes are missed, students or family members, if students are unable, should communicate with the college office as soon as possible. Students may explore options, such as incomplete grades, withdrawing from the class or seeking a medical withdrawal. These options may not be available in every case and should be pursued before students are withdrawn for excessive absences. Once a WA is entered for a course, these options are no longer available. The university deadline for withdrawal is published in the Academic Calendar.

MAKING UP WORK FROM A MISSED CLASS

In the case of missed assignments, the university does make a distinction between reasons for absences.

In the case of absences due to legal obligations, requests from Title IX personnel, religious observances, participation in Division 1 athletics, or other university-sponsored events, if documented in advance, students should be given the opportunity to make up class examinations or other graded assignments that are missed, where possible. These events include but are not limited to band performance or presenting a paper at a conference. In addition, students should be given the opportunity to make up class examinations or other graded assignments that are missed, where possible, for the following circumstances: hospitalization, the death or acute illness of an immediate family member (e.g., parent or caregiver, sibling, spouse, or child), mandatory admission interviews for professional or graduate school, post-graduate employment interviews that cannot be rescheduled, required participation in military duties, when the Military Call to Active Duty or Training policy is followed, required ROTC training and medical examinations or similar serious reasons. Documentation for military call-up is provided by the Office of the Registrar. Faculty may require documentation for other absences.

Students should consult faculty and the respective syllabus for their policies regarding makeup work. The manner in which the work is made up is left to the discretion of each individual faculty member. The opportunity to make up work is considered a privilege, not a right.

It is recognized that sometimes an exam or graded assignment is impossible to make up. Faculty may assign collaborative projects that depend on other classmates, or oral presentations that incorporate questioning by the entire class or may use evaluative methods that cannot easily be replicated by the instructor. This policy does not prohibit any member of the faculty from making the determination that certain course work cannot be made up. Faculty who intend to deny the opportunity to make up certain exams or projects because of absences resulting from legal obligations, religious observance or university-sponsored activities and related travel, must inform students of these consequences (reduced grade or otherwise) in writing, at the beginning of the class (preferably in the course syllabus).

In the event that students are absent for reasons specified above (e.g., representing the university) and the instructor issues some portion of the grade on the basis of participation or, more directly, attendance, it is impossible students to directly “make up” the work. In these cases, faculty should recognize that these students’ grades should not be penalized for the absence. Except in cases of field experience, practicums, student teaching, clinicals or clinical internships, the student should be given the opportunity to achieve the same grade based on a smaller number of classes or some alternative means of making up the points missed.

STUDENT AND FACULTY RESPONSIBILITIES REGARDING ATTENDANCE AND MAKEUP WORK

The following responsibilities are outlined in order to minimize the difficulties for both students and instructors caused by absences due to legal obligations, religious observance or university-sanctioned activities and related travel:

Students:

  1. Students are responsible for attending all class meetings for courses in which they are registered.
  2. Students should make every effort to schedule classes that minimize conflicts caused by foreseeable activities and related travel.
  3. Since it is up to students to understand and abide by each instructor’s policy on issues related to attendance, students should consult the instructor if any portion is not understood.
  4. Students should provide written notification of all scheduled events (e.g., dates of religious observance or scheduled travel for intercollegiate athletics), including a schedule of all activities and related travel to all their instructors within the first two weeks of each term.
  5. Students should provide written notification of all other absences as soon as possible for events not foreseen at the beginning of the term. (e.g., extended athletic seasons, hospitalization). If students wish to make up work, documentation may be required by the professor and should be turned in to the professor for absences less than a week and to the college office for absences of a week or longer.2
  6. Students should obtain any class notes or other course material missed due to these absences, prior to taking any subsequent examinations or submitting any subsequent graded assignments.
  7. Students should make arrangements with the instructor to make up any missed work that can be made up, prior to any foreseeable absences and as soon as possible for any unforeseeable absences.
  8. Regardless of the reason for the absence, students are responsible for learning what happened in class. Students who anticipate missing one or more class periods should contact the instructor ahead of time, just as they should contact their instructor as soon as possible after an absence.
  9. Students are responsible for monitoring their absences during the term.

Faculty:

  1. Faculty have a responsibility to meet every class period during the term. Faculty should make every effort to seek coverage from another faculty member, if they cannot hold class because of professional travel or short-term illness.
  2. Faculty should determine and notify students in writing the first day of class, preferably in the course syllabus, if any component of the grade is based on attendance and/or participation and whether or not the opportunity to make up missed work, including assignments, quizzes, examinations and so forth, is provided.
  3. If faculty allow some or all assignments to be made up, they should specify the conditions students must meet to be given the opportunity to make up missed work.
  4. If a faculty member does not provide information about make up work in writing, students can expect to be given a reasonable amount of time to complete work that is missed as a result of being absent due to serious reasons (see above).
  5. Faculty should consult the Office of Campus Ministry’s list of major religious holidays likely to affect Marquette students. Note that this is not an exhaustive list. Faculty are encouraged to accommodate students who are participating in bona fide religious observances whether or not the observance is included on the Campus Ministry list.
  6. While the university does not require faculty to take attendance, if any part of the course grade is based on attendance and/or participation, the faculty member should keep thorough documentation of class attendance.
  7. When it is determined that students are approaching the maximum number of absences, faculty should communicate with the college office and the students.