Instructors should follow Faculty Senate Policy 42-27, Class Attendance, which identifies examples of legitimate, unavoidable reasons for absence, such as illness, injury, military service, family emergency, or religious observance. Instructors should accommodate student absences with flexibility during this pandemic period, especially as we don’t want students who feel ill to think that they should attend class so that their grade is not negatively impacted by an absence.
Other general resources about attendance requirements as a part of participation in the course:
View current information related to COVID-19 and classroom attendance policy on the Penn State Coronavirus Information website.
Read Class Attendance procedures (undergraduate).
While you are not required to take attendance for your in-person course, if you want to take attendance, consider the following options:
Integrate iClickers into live sessions.
Develop a participation survey/quiz for students to complete after each in-person session. Ask students to either expand on content discussed or ask questions they would like covered in future sessions.
Create a reflection assignment (e.g., one thing I learned, one thing I still have a question about).