Correlating Course Attendance with Factors of First-Generation Status, Gender, and Economic Status

A few years ago, members of our Engineering & Design Department began a study to determine the effects of class attendance on student success. Today’s engineering and technology students have grown up in a very different environment from the students of 20 years ago. They access information and engage in social contact through digital media and they often have almost instant access to this digital media through portable, wireless devices. There is a thought that with this greater connectivity they may not respond in the same manner to the teaching methods of past generations of students. More specifically, the students of today may not feel the same need to be physically present in their classes in order to be successful. Initial results presented at the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference and Exposition in 2012 determined attendance correlates with student success and the correlation changes during the progression of a student throughout their undergraduate experience. Results presented at the ASEE 2013 Conference indicated that an instructor’s attendance policy did not significantly affect overall attendance rates of students that earned high grades in a course but did affect the students that earned lower grades. This current paper discusses if there is a significant relationship between student attendance and the following three factors: status as a firstgeneration college attendee, gender, and economic status. Four different instructors have gathered attendance data since 2008 for approximately 20 classes per year ranging from freshman to senior students in programs of Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Technology, Manufacturing Technology, Design Technology, Construction Management, Applied Technology, and a service course to the general student body. Additionally, the study provides the ability to track an individual student over their entire undergraduate education. A correlation between student attendance and the student characteristics of first-generation status, gender, and economic status exists and this paper will discuss this in detail.