Attendance, Employability, Student Performance and Electronic Course Materials: an Exploration and Discussion

This chapter discusses the possible detrimental effects of low attendance on the achievement of important learning outcomes in terms of "soft" employability-enhancing skills among undergraduate students in business schools, and explores how the use of learning technologies may contribute to high or low class attendance levels. The chapter describes the exploratory results of a survey carried out among final year bachelor students attending a strategic management course, the findings of which suggest that a significant number of students view virtual learning environments as a substitute for lectures. I find only very limited evidence that such students actually attend classes any less than other students do. Furthermore, I find that reasons for non-attendance are similar to those reported in existing literature.