Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

No Show survey results

Posted by Andy Freed

In mid-Janury 2016, the Distance Learning Advisory Council (DLAC) sent out a survey to all instructors teaching at least one online class. Members of the DLAC had heard from several sources that there was confusion over the No Show policy. First, we’d like to highlight some of the results of the survey, then propose some statements that might help improve understanding of the No Show policy and how to implement it in your online class.

Survey results

The survey was sent to 406 active online faculty from Winter 2016. We received 186 responses, or a45% response rate. Based on the response rate, this is a topic that people had opinions about.

Question 1

Are you aware of and understand PCC’s No Show policy as defined in the Grading Guidelines?

Are you aware of and understand PCC’s No Show policy as defined in the Grading Guidelines?

Response	Percent
Yes	95.7%
No	4.3%

Question 2

Did you know that NS is important to managing Financial Aid and preventing fraud?

No need for any chart or graph here. 98% responded yes.

Question 3

In a typical 10+ week class, do you submit NS marks to remove students from your roster?

Sub-themes

The reason for those who selected “Sometimes” include

• Sometimes all the students show up
• Sometimes I forget
• Sometimes I struggle with logging in vs. being active

For those who said they never do them, the indicated reasons included

• We’re in a closed program
• The students just re-enroll anyway

Question 4

How do you determine if a student has attended or not attended your online class?

How do you determine if a student has attended or not attended your online class?(choose all that apply)

Response	Percent
A discussion post asking the students to introduce themselves	71%
If they have logged in to the class at all	51%
A quiz about the syllabus/calendar or other course materials	32%
An assignment related to the course curriculum	24%
A required email to instructor	17%
Other (please explain)	14%
I don’t (?!?)	1%

Sub-themes/Other responses:

• I monitor/require activity in a 3rd party tool (e.g. MyLabs, WeBWorK)
• I have mandatory meetings in online office hours
• I check the classlist for login activity
• I employee a mix of all of these

Question 5

How do you communicate with your students about what the participation requirements are related to the No Show process?

How do you communicate with students about participation requirements (choose all that apply)

Response	Percent
Syllabus	67%
Email	65%
Course News	65%
Course Info Page (CIP)	34%
Calendar	37%
Other (see below)	18%

Other themes:

• I don’t do any of these!
• I call the student if they aren’t responsive
• I send multiple emails in the PCC email

Question 6:

In a 10+ week class, what deadline do you give students to complete their participation requirement to prove attendance?

For instructors who selected other, several indicated that they were ignorant of any deadlines, and others indicated that they publish one (e.g. Wednesday) but don’t issue a No Show until later.

Question 7

In a 10+ week class, how much do you consider the following issues when submitting No Shows?

In a 10+ week class, how much do you consider the following issues when submitting No Shows?

Response	Not at all	Somewhat	A lot
NS can affect course enrollment and course cancellation	69.5	22.5	?8
NS may affect overall course success and completion rates	59.5	24.5	16
The student may not know course expectations by NS deadline	44.7	42.8	12.6
Too much work in the first week might scare off students	77	19.3	3.7
Getting dropped might affect student Financial Aid eligibility	48	32	20
Students can probably be re-enrolled if there is an error	13.6	?42.6	?43.8

Question 8 and 9

The following questions were about managing No Shows in short-term classes; classes that can last between 1 day and 8 weeks. There were fewer responses to these questions, but some very striking themes.

• When possible, instructors do No Shows at the end of the first day of class
• In some cases, issuing a No Show isn’t possible because the deadline is before the first day of class
• In short-term classes, there isn’t enough time to get a sense if students are participating by the deadline

Question 10

Do you have any ideas about how to make the No Show more effective?

There were several consistent themes in the free responses to this question.

• Make No Shows automated (if the student hasn’t logged in by the deadline)
• Extend NS deadline to Monday of week 2
• Notify students about NS requirement in email from DL dept. (we do)
• Be more direct/strict with faculty
• It¡¯s working just fine!

Summary of Results

The results of the survey indicate a variety of practices around attendance policy, the No Show mark, and communication, which mirrors what we hear from instructors and students. Another theme we’ve heard from instructors is a desire to have clearer expectations from the institution on how to manage No Shows. In the What Works document that the DLAC authored last year, there are some tips in Section 5 (Course Monitoring) that may be useful. However, we wanted to expand on these with some proposed language for feedback.

Proposed guidance for instructors

1. System access is not adequate, student must submit substantial course work during first week
2. Instructor uses professional judgement to define substantial work. Examples can include a combination of
   1. Introductory post in discussion
   2. Module 1 and syllabus quizzes
   3. Email academic integrity notice
   4. Access to 3rd party tool
3. Syllabus/Course intro and Course Details Page will clearly state course attendance requirements in order to avoid a NS that includes required activities and timelines
4. If a student appears inactive, try to contact the student via
   1. PCC email
   2. Documented phone call
5. If you are suspicious that a student might not be authentically engaged but are hesitant to issue a No Show, contact our Faculty Help Desk
6. Use the Course News and PCC email if you have an earlier participation deadline (before Wednesday)

If you have any feedback on these items, or questions, please share in the comments.

Items to investigate

Based on the feedback, The Distance Ed. Department will also investigate the following options, which may have system or time-conflicts. Still, we’re going to get an accurate update.

• Automating a No Show drop
• Extending the No Show drop deadline to the second week
• Adding a second/later deadline or if there is a way to administratively drop a non-participant