Attendance
West Georgia Technical College strongly encourages regular and punctual class attendance. Research shows a strong correlation between class attendance and grades earned. Absences prevent students from receiving full course benefits, disrupt orderly course progress, and diminish the quality of group interaction in class. The College considers both tardiness and early departure from class as forms of absenteeism.
Instructors have both the right and the responsibility to develop reasonable attendance requirements appropriate to the type, level, delivery method, and frequency of class meetings for their courses; communicate the requirements to students clearly via their syllabi addenda; and apply the requirements fairly and consistently to all enrolled students. Instructors are responsible for determining whether work missed may be made up; any make-up work allowed is scheduled at the discretion of instructors. Policies for make-up work are detailed in the course syllabus. An instructor may use his or her discretion whether final grades are affected by excessive absences and tardiness. Instructors may establish a participation grade based on a student's attendance. The syllabus should clearly describe the consequences of missed classes.
Knowing the course attendance requirements and adhering to it is the student’s responsibility. Students anticipating an absence or tardiness should contact the instructor and provide notification as soon as possible. Students absent from class for any reason are still responsible for all work missed. Final grades may be affected by excessive absence and tardiness. Failure to attend class the first week may result in students being reported as no-shows and dropped from the course.
In the event of class cancellation or school closure due to severe weather or other emergencies, students are expected to continue participating in learning activities via Blackboard, their official college email account, or other modality. Instructors will provide information on their continuation of instruction plans in their syllabus.
Health Sciences and Nursing programs have attendance guidelines specific to those methods of instructional delivery. These guidelines will be detailed in individual course syllabi and program handbooks for such courses. Students taking online courses must complete the Course Agreement Form within the first week of class to avoid being dropped from their class as a No Show.