Abstract:

Introduction and objective: New Information Technologies have favoured that from some years ago, e-learning is raised as a valid alternative to traditional teaching based on the attendance of the students to lessons. However, without rejecting the great usefulness of this new strategy, we think it should complement, not replace, attendance at lessons, especially in certain subjects in which the direct interaction between student and lecture is essential. The objective of this study has been to determine whether attendance at lessons affects learning process and knowledge and competence acquisition in Public Health evaluated through a test of multiple-choice questions.

Methodology: We have been retrospectively analysed the records of 1797 students who took the first mid-term exam of Public Health subject of the Bachelor of Pharmacy given by the Preventive Medicine Department of the University of Granada for the last six academic years (between 2004/2005 and 2009/2010) During this period, the common practice of lecture in the theoretical teaching of this subject was to call the roll randomly at least five times of the thirty classes given during the first term. The attendance was entered in every student’s record along with the first mid-term exam marks which consisted of a one hundred multiple-choice questions exam.

Analysis: From the previous information four variables were made, two dependent (passed yes-no, and mark from 0 to 100) and two independent (some attendance yes-no, and the number of attendances from 0 to 5). In order to study the association between both types of variables, the Relative Risk (RRs) of passing the exam for each level of independent variables was estimated. Also the average marks between different levels of attendance were compared (ANOVA) as well as the correlation between the number of attendances and mark (Spearman´s rho). Every analysis was made for all the students and in a stratified way for each academic course.

Results: The percentage of students who passed the test increased as did the number of attendances, increasing from 12.8% (0 attendances) to 48.6% (5 attendances) (P <0,001) The RR of passing was 3,8 times higher (IC 95%; 2.9 – 4.9) in students who had 5 attendances compared to students who did not have any one. Similarly, the average marks in the test increased as did the number of attendances, getting a correlation coefficient of 0,357 between both variables (P <0,001) The results were kept in every academic course, not noticing temporary changes in the magnitude of the associations detected.

Conclusion: Although the association between attendance and academic performance can be distorted by selection bias and confounding factors that could not be controlled in this study, the association strongly supports the hypothesis that the attendance is a determinate factor for the students’ academic performance.

Keywords:

Academic performance, attendance in teaching, public health.