Your Career

Class attendance went off a cliff last year. How can you reverse the trend?

Last spring witnessed a “‘stunning’ level of student disconnection” in college classrooms. Plenty of professors found themselves speaking to a lot of empty seats, and many worried that their students had checked out. With a new semester underway, it’s a good time to think about how to keep your students enrolled and engaged.

Students — much like their instructors — have been in transition from pandemic isolation to a time of more freedom. And the change is not like flipping a switch. It’s more like coming out of a dark cave into sunlight; it takes a while for your eyes to adjust. By restoring some guardrails, you can help students adapt, and maybe help yourself, too. For example:

• A required-attendance policy helps students get to class (although they don’t like to admit it). Taking attendance is an especially good idea for first-year students who are fresh out of high school and accustomed to accountability.
• The possibility of making new friends inspires some students to come to class. During remote learning, they couldn’t make friends in a physical classroom. The return of in-person teaching last year restored that opportunity. Take advantage of it by devoting some class periods to peer-critique sessions or small-group activities that help students connect.

Continue reading: “Why Students Are Skipping Class So Often, and How to Bring Them Back,” by Carol E. Holstead

Share your suggestions for the newsletter with Denise Magner, an editor at The Chronicle, at denise.magner@chronicle.com. If you’d like to opt out, you can log in to our website and manage your newsletter preferences here.

What we’re reading.

Here’s more on career issues and trends from around the web. See something we should include? Let me know.

• In the Harvard Business Review, four strategies that can “backfire when dealing with a difficult colleague.”
• A new program at the University of Iowa offers faculty and staff members voluntary online training that simulates real-life conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• On The Biblioracle substack, advice on how to make sure your personal reading time “is spent on books you enjoy.”