Americ Azevedo taught an "Introduction to Computers" class at UC Berkeley last semester that featured some of the hottest options in educational technology.
By visiting the course's websites, the 200 enrolled students could download audio recordings or watch digital videos of the lectures, as well as read the instructor's detailed lecture notes and participate in online discussions.
But there was one big problem: So many of the undergraduates relied on the technology that, at times, only 20 or so actually showed up for class.
"It was demoralizing," Azevedo said. "Getting students out of their media bubble to be here is getting progressively harder."
Skipping classes, particularly big lectures where an absence is likely to go undetected, is a time-honored tradition among college undergraduates who party too late or swap notes with friends. These days, however, some professors are witnessing a spurt in absenteeism as an unintended consequence of adopting technologies that were envisioned as learning aids.
Already, even as many academics embrace the electronic innovations, others are pushing back. To deter no-shows, they are reverting to lower-tech tactics such as giving more surprise quizzes or slashing their online offerings.
"Too much online instruction is a bad thing," said Terre Allen, a communication studies scholar and director of a center that provides teaching advice to professors at Cal State Long Beach.
This last term, Allen experimented with posting extensive lecture notes online for her undergraduate course, "Language and Behavior." One goal was to relieve students of the burden of furiously scribbling notes, freeing them to focus on the lectures' substance.
Yet the result, Allen said, was that only about one-third of her 154 students showed up for most of the lectures. In the past, when Allen put less material online, 60% to 70% of students typically would attend.
When it comes to lectures with enrollment in the hundreds, universities usually don't compel undergraduates to show up, or even lower their grades for poor attendance.
"This is one of the things that divide universities from high schools," Allen said. "Students are expected to be personally responsible."
Still, Allen said, to curb "the absentee approach to college," she won't put her lecture notes online this term.
