This week’s EKM Journal Club explored the following paper:
Developing a national computerised absence monitoring and management system to reduce nursing student attrition: Evaluation of staff and student perspectives Currie K., McCallum J., Murray J., Scott J., Strachan E., Yates L., Wright M. (2014) Nurse Education Today, 34 (5) , pp. 738-743.
The study by Currie et al. surveyed large nursing cohorts in Scotland and described their work examining students and faculty perspectives on recording attendance. The study looked at a computerized system to monitor attendance. It is a mandatory requirement for hours to be recorded in the UK. Before indulging into the details of the study, those present at the journal club were asked about their thoughts regarding mandatory attendance and their experience within their own schooling. One member with experience in Nova Scotia mentioned that she had the same requirement of mandatory class hours and her attendance was recorded along with clinical hours. Others had mandatory clinical hours they had to accumulate, but did not remember a requirement to be in class at all times.
The paper explored that non-attendance is linked to attrition. Attrition rates were reported at generally around 20 – 25% in bachalaureatte nursing programs. Within the journal club, similar attrition rates across Canada were discussed for a four year degree programs, although advanced standing programs (such as our own) often have far lower rates of attrition. As a result, the authors wanted to identify students that were more likely to drop out and the researchers suggested that monitoring attendance could help identify those students earlier. The study also aimed to see if the intervention of monitoring attendance would help decrease attrition rates.
Many within the group questioned why students were not attending class and were more concerned about the reasons behind the absence rather than monitoring the absence itself. Some issues for non-attendance brought forward were health including self-care, family and the reality that school does not meet students’ expectations or needs. If we are trying to prevent attrition, it might be more beneficial to assess the reason for attrition rather than monitoring absence.
Those present also discussed the topic of support for students in areas other than academic excellence such as financial support, family support and counselling. It was mentioned that the pastoral support available where the study took place may be different from support commonly available here. In the study, one advisor was allocated to a small group of 10-15 students, rather than one advisor for every 120 students as it is the case in the UBC BSN program, and with many other programs in Canada.
Students’ attendance in the study was tracked and logged within a system that would send colour coded email messages to students at the end of each week. Green indicated good attendance with no issues, orange meant caution and that attendance was not perfect, while pink indicated poor attendance and the student was asked to contact a tutor. The system was not perfect and occasionally had glitches giving wrong colour coded messages to students.
Members of the journal club brought forward the issue that there was no gaurantee that students would not register attendance for peers that did not actually attend class (either by use of magnetic swipe card or signing in). Another attendee would like to explore further the correlation between attendance and academic performance; just because a student is sitting in class, does not necessarily mean that he or she is paying attention.
A poll was taken to determine what level of mandatory attendance should be implemented? Majority of the group said 80 – 90% with some grace towards illness. Many people within the group agreed that the paper did not have a productive approach in terms of attrition rates. The paper was quite simplistic in its approach when the issue is more complex.
Someone mentioned changing the word “mandatory” to “expectations” and providing students with a clear outline of appropriate guidelines. Another participant discussed the need to look at patterns of absences, as freqquent absnces on certain weekdays might indicate a pattern. For example, looking at the thread courses involved in the UBC SoN program and the difference in attendance rates at different times of the year, such as just before an exam or paper is due, or when there is an expected guest. If faculty can figure out why certain patterns occur, it can influence actions towards solving the problem and working with students in the process.
Other discussions threaded throughout the session included the question of professionalism in attending class as with being present for clinical work; is it really any different? Professional programs expect a certain level of commitment and attendance is more crucial than any other general undergraduate degree. Many thought that this should not be regarded in the same way as other adult education programs, where attendance requirments are more flexible.
It was noted there could be many valid reasons why someone would not attend class. What if someone is already well versed in a particular area, is it necessary for students to attend class when they already know the material? Do they have a right to skip the class or should they have an obligation to their peers in contributing their expertise and helping those with questions who are having trouble with the subject matter?
Another journal club member brought up the issue of students with consistently poor attendance and relying on other students for notes and information on what they missed. Is this fair to the students that make the effort to be present for class?
Lastly, within several nursing programs especially the UBC SoN program, students are mature adults. Some attendees believed it would be a waste of time to be tracking attendance since students are capable of making their own decisions and ultimately will do what they believe is in their best interest. This was contrasted with the alternative view that as students are entering a vocational program they should be expected to be present whenever possible to demonstrate commitment, responsibility, engender a sense of professional integrity.
Overall, the study in the paper indicated that recording attendance might help identify students at risk earlier (although this was not gauranteed) but there were issues in adopting an automated sytem, and it could be perceived as punative, and would not necessarily alter attrition.
Below are the presentation slides and polls taken during the session:
EKM Journal Club Slides May 10
Thank you to all who attended the journal club, it was quite a controversial debate!
The next event for the Elizabeth Kenny McCann Scholarship of Teaching and Learning will be a workshop exploring using Classroom Observation and Teaching Practice Inventories. The workshop will take place on Tuesday May 22 at noon in room T182. Erendira will send out a reminder and of course cookies with be provided!
Please RSVP to Erendira by email if you plan to attend.