{"id":11517,"date":"2024-02-13T17:28:33","date_gmt":"2024-02-13T22:28:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/?page_id=11517"},"modified":"2026-02-06T17:18:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T22:18:52","slug":"respond-to-absences-effectively","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/respond-to-absences-effectively\/","title":{"rendered":"Respond to Absences Effectively"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><em><strong>Implement strategies that both inspire attendance and help students who are absent.<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This week\u2019s \u201cBe a Strong Student\u201d message to students asks them to <strong>\u201cDeal with Absences Effectively.\u201d <\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The corresponding instructor strategy has two parts: one is to make attendance count; the other is to have a system in place to respond to absences.<\/span><\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Make Attendance Count<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/policies\/all-policies\/attendance-2\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">University attendance policy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (under revision for fall 24) currently notes, &#8220;[s]tudents are expected to fulfill all course requirements, and although attendance is not always mandatory, it is desirable.&#8221; It is up to instructors to further define attendance policies. Making attendance \u201cdesirable\u201d includes:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Incentivizing attendance<\/strong> (giving credit for it or for a form of engaged and meaningful participation that can be demonstrated during a live class session or in a manner defined for the online asynchronous environment).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Creating a policy that includes consequences for absences over a small number<\/strong>; often an incremental approach works, with half grades deducted for absences over the equivalent of two weeks of class.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Making class explicitly meaningful <\/strong>by designing class for &#8220;doing&#8221;:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">using <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/teaching-resources\/pedagogical-strategies-that-support-learning\/active-and-engaged-learning\/?\">engaged and active learning strategies<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">using a\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/flipped-learning\/?\">flipped learning approach<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">having a <strong>task<\/strong> they must complete in class<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">for <strong>online<\/strong>, requiring students to complete an activity to show their engagement for the week.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ensuring that class<strong> does not simply rehash<\/strong> assigned readings or other materials available outside of class (for example, slide decks).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Taking attendance<\/strong>, even if you don&#8217;t grade it, to convey your expectation of presence.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reinforcing the strategies to <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/teaching-resources\/strong-student-campaign-foster-engaged-attendance\/\">foster engaged attendance<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from earlier in the campaign<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h1><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Respond to Absences<\/span><\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Establish a <strong>clear attendance\/participation policy<\/strong> that defines your requirements and any penalties. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Because there is no uniform University attendance policy, students may find that different courses have different attendance policies and expectations. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Consider what is appropriate for your course and modality, and communicate that in your syllabus.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Establish a system for a missed class<\/strong>. Should students contact you or a classmate for notes or assignments? Should students reach out to ask for an extension? What types of in-class assignments can be made up? What types cannot (such as time-sensitive work like peer review)?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Reach out<\/strong> to students who have missed a large number of classes\/work based on your course attendance policy. Use an <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/attendance\/\">empathy sandwich<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to remind them of that policy and express concern.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Invite students to meet with you<\/strong> during student\/office hours to discuss missed work.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Post select in-class materials<\/strong> on Canvas.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Find a more extensive list of tips on OFE\u2019s <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/attendance\/\">Attendance: Considerations and Options<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Connect students to campus resources<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">See <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/instructor-essentials\/instructor-essentials-students-in-need-connecting-to-campus-partners\/?\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>academic support partners<\/strong><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for a detailed list; these resources are also listed in the <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/teaching-resources\/clear-course-design\/the-montclair-syllabus\/?w\">Montclair Syllabus<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>.<\/strong> Remind students that there is no extra cost for these services.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Require students to consult with a University tutor at <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/center-for-academic-success-and-tutoring\/\">CAST <\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">if their attendance becomes a concern. CAST academic coaches can help students figure out what they need to do to keep up. They can assist students in reading your syllabus, notes, and expectations. To require tutoring, go to the Navigate platform via <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/auth.montclair.edu\/authenticationendpoint\/login.do?Name=PreLoginRequestProcessor&amp;commonAuthCallerPath=%252Fcas%252Flogin&amp;forceAuth=true&amp;passiveAuth=false&amp;service=https%3A%2F%2Fnest.montclair.edu%2Fc%2Fportal%2Flogin&amp;tenantDomain=carbon.super&amp;sessionDataKey=6efee9b1-170a-45ce-9c5d-dd2cadc5af39&amp;relyingParty=LuminisPlatformUserPortal&amp;type=cas&amp;sp=LuminisPlatformUserPortal&amp;isSaaSApp=false&amp;authenticators=BasicAuthenticator%3ALOCAL\">NEST<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u201cIssue an alert.\u201d Select \u201cTutoring needed.\u201d This will effectively create a case that a tutor will handle directly, ensuring that you receive an update from the tutor by scrolling down your Navigate homepage to see status updates on the cases you\u2019ve opened.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/navigate\/faculty-staff\/\"><strong>Navigate<\/strong> <\/a>to raise alerts about attendance concerns. Navigate alerts can be raised during the official warning periods and also ad hoc, any time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For extended absences, reach out to the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/montclair-cares\/care-team\/?\"><b> CARE Team<\/b><\/a><b>.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Complete a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/montclair-cares\/care-team\/care-report\/\"><b>CARE report<\/b> <\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">for students who may need to be connected to services to address academic, social, and\/or physical\/mental health concerns.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>For more information or help, please <a href=\"mailto:faculty@montclair.edu\">email<\/a> the Office for Faculty Excellence or <a href=\"https:\/\/montclair-faculty-excellence.libcal.com\/appointments\/\">make an appointment<\/a> with a consultant.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><p><em>Last Modified: Friday, February 6, 2026 5:18 pm<\/em><\/p> CK<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"license\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/195\/2022\/08\/CC.png\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" width=\"80\" height=\"15\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nTeaching Resources by <a rel=\"cc:attributionURL\" href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/\">ÌÇÐÄvlog Office for Faculty Excellence<\/a> is licensed under a <a rel=\"license\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Third-party content is not covered under the Creative Commons license and may be subject to additional intellectual property notices, information, or restrictions. You are solely responsible for obtaining permission to use third party content or determining whether your use is fair use and for responding to any claims that may arise.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\">Creative Commons CC BY-NC-4.0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Implement strategies that both inspire attendance and help students who are absent. This week\u2019s \u201cBe a Strong Student\u201d message to students asks them to \u201cDeal with Absences Effectively.\u201d The corresponding instructor strategy has two parts: one is to make attendance count; the other is to have a system in place to respond to absences. Make [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":328,"featured_media":11518,"parent":0,"menu_order":60,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11517","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11517"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14918,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11517\/revisions\/14918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}