The Impact of Compulsory Attendance on Anatomy Exam Performance

Abstract

Attendance in face‐to‐face anatomy lectures is dwindling since lectures are commonly recorded and viewed outside of the traditional classroom. It is suggested that consistent and engaged lecture attendance generally improves students' performance. Instructors use this information to encourage or require attendance in their face‐to‐face lectures. However, data show an equivocal relationship between compulsory attendance and improved performance. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of compulsory attendance on exam performance in an undergraduate human anatomy lecture course.The study sample consisted of two different sections of undergraduate human anatomy lecture with the same instructor (N=821 students). Data were collected for two semesters. Each semester, one section had compulsory lecture attendance, while the other section had optional attendance. Compulsory and optional attendance data were collected by the instructor using an audience response system. The students enrolled in the compulsory attendance section received points for each lecture, while students in the optional attendance section had additional points awarded for the open‐book homework assignments. Three in‐class exams were administered each semester to both sections. Scores for the three exams were compared using one‐way repeated measures ANOVA.Analyses indicate that compulsory attendance does not result in statistically significant improvements in exam scores for this sample. These results demonstrate that there may be other factors influencing exam performance in anatomical education, including students' engagement, motivation and extracurricular responsibilities.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.