THE EFFECTS OF STUDENTS ATTENDANCE IN THE SUCCESS OF UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICAL COURSES-THE CASE OF THE SEE-UNIVERSITY

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of student’s attendance in mathematics lectures and their final examination success. There are two basic objectives in this study: a) to identify the most common reasons of student’s attendance/absence in mathematics lectures; and b) to identify the effect of the student’s attendance in mathematical courses on their general results.

The population of the study consists of the second year students of two different faculties of the SEE-University, students from the faculty of Business Economics and the faculty of Contemporary Sciences and Technologies. A survey is realized during the academic year 2014/15.

This paper provides results of a survey completed at the beginning of the summer semester and results of the final success in Mathematics.

The results of this survey show that besides the most common reasons of their absence during the lectures/practical hours, as are their family engagements and other part time engagements, there are also some other reasons which are influenced of other different factors. The survey shows that the nature of these other reasons can be classified in different groups such are: the timetable of the lecture/practical hour is not suitable for them; the boring courses;  the subject is difficult and they cannot understand, so, there is no reason to take part in it; and also as e reason is mentioned that they simply dislike the subject.

Using the method of logistic regression, we have indicated that student’s attendance has a statistically significant impact on their final success in Mathematical courses.

These findings suggest that enhancement of student participation, is a crucial aspect of administration which improves their performance. At the same time, the lecturer should also create a good learning environment, to motivate students and enlarge their interest to the course.

Keywords

• mathematics lectures,attendance,absence,success,binary logistic regression

References

1. Alija, S. (2013). How attendance affects the general success of the student, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 168-182. Kirby A. & McElroy, B. (2003). The effect of attendance on grade for first year economics students in University College Cork, The Economic and Social Review, Vol. 34, No. 3, Winter 2003, pp. 311-326. Rodgers, J.R. (2001). A panel-data study of the effect of student attendance on university performance. Australian Journal of Education, 45(3), 284-295. Spaho.,A. & Godolja, M. D. (2014). Lecture attendance and success on general mathematics. Case study of first-year business students, university of Tirana, Albania IMPACT: International Journal of Research in Business Management, Vol. 2, Issue 5, 73-78. Masingham, P., & Herrington, T. (2006). Does attendance matter? An examination of student attitudes, participation, performance and attendance? Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 3(2), 82-103. Donka Mirtcheva. (2009 Attendance & GPA: Health as a Deciding Factor. The College of New Jersey. Joanne Cleary-Holdforth, (2007). Student non-attendance in higher education. A phenomenon of student apathy or poor pedagogy? Level3 – June 2007 – Issue 5. Hosmer W.D., & Lemeshow, S. (2000). Applied Logistic Regression. Wiley-Interscience Publication. 2nd edition, New York. Devadoss S. & FoltzSource, J. (1996). Evaluation of Factors Influencing Student Class Attendance and Performance. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 78, No. 3 (Aug., 1996), pp. 499-507. MedCalc, Easy-to-use statistical software, (2005). MedCalc Softëare, Broekstraat 52, 9030 Mariakerke, Belgium. Lockwood P., Guppy C. & Smyth R. (2006). Should lectures be compulsory?, Proceedings of the UniServe Science Assessment Symposium, Sydney, Australia. Available at http://science.uniserve.edu.au/pubs/procs/2006/lockwood.pdf accessed 17 June 2013). Purcell, P., (2007). Engineering Student Attendance at Lectures: Effect on Examination Performance. International Conference on Engineering Education, September 3-7, Coimbra, Portugal. Available at http://icee2007.dei.uc.pt/proceedings/papers/107.pdf (accessed 15 June 2013). Maloney, M. & Lally, B. (1998). The relationship between attendance at university lectures and examination performance. The Irish Journal of Education, Vol 29, pp.52-62.