... not everyone's parents pay for their adult children's education (some just can't whereas others won't), which means that many students have to work part time (sometimes full time) in order to pay for their schooling. No offence Mark - but if I saw this on the syllabus "Someone is investing large sums of money in you so that you may attend this college. Therefore, maximizing the benefit of this opportunity should be your primary occupation during your time here." I would be offended. On several occasions I have had students approach me to say that they will be absent from class because of work obligations (and I am aware that they are doing so in order to pay tuition - which I might add, has increased dramatically in Canada over the last 10 years). It's a catch-22 as they need money to attend class, but need to attend class to get their grades. In some cases I've offered other ways to participate in class - such as blogs/web work or in class presentations etc etc. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for attendance - F2F interactivity is very important, but there are reasons for occasional student absences and other ways to participate and be interactive. "my goal is to instill a work ethic that privileges the academic over other aspects of college life." Sounds Calvinist and strangely Weber like - but what other aspects of college life do you think are prominent? Partying? Tracy -----Original Message----- The main reason I include such a category is because I came late in life to academia, and in the work world expectations about showing up on time and being engaged in the tasks at hand are not at the discretion of the employee. While I'm sympathetic to the idea that our students are adults who can make their own decisions about what is helpful or not to their education, most people in our society aren't afforded that degree of freedom. The employers these students have upon graduation will not allow them to show up when it suits them. Nor would I expect that the students' mommies and daddies, who are shelling out big bucks for the students to be here, would agree with that approach. My syllabus says, "Most classes involve group interaction and/or projects, and you cheat your colleagues out of part of the interactive experience when you are not there. Someone is investing large sums of money in you so that you may attend this college. Therefore, maximizing the benefit of this opportunity should be your primary occupation during your time here." So while attendance is not a problem, my goal is to instill a work ethic that privileges the academic over other aspects of college life. -- Mark D. Johns, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Communication Studies Luther College, Decorah, Iowa USA http://academic.luther.edu/~johnsmar/ ----------------------------------------------- "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." ---Mark Twain _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/