Attendance and exam scores: An investigation into the correlation between classroom attendance and exam scores in two courses at a college of pharmacy

Abstract

Specific Aims: To assess correlation of academic performance with attendance of live lectures versus watching the lectures recorded. The subjects were students in a four year Doctor of Pharmacy program at a large United States public university. Methods: Over the course of a semester we monitored the progress of pharmacy students enrolled in two courses at a public university. The university had two campuses that shared lectures in real time via closed circuit television technology. The two courses were 1) Pharmacotherapeutics II (PTH) utilizing a flipped classroom approach, and 2) Professional Practice Management (PPM) employing traditional lectures. All lectures were recorded in the PPM course and most in the PTH course. Students could view the recordings at their leisure and attendance was not required. Student's exam scores and the number of lectures attended were documented. An a-priori alpha of 0.05 was set for all statistical tests. Pearson-rho analysis was utilized for examination of correlation between semester exam average and in-class attendance. A two-tailed Welch's t-test analysis was performed to compare exam scores and in-class attendance between campus cohorts. Main Results: The PPM course did not show correlation between attendance and exam scores ( r = 0.05, p = 0.627 ), while the PTH course showed a weak correlation ( r = 0.28, p = 0.003 ), but primarily due to non-recorded class sessions. Conclusions: There was no correlation between attendance and exam scores, implying recorded lectures utilized as a content delivery method are as effective as attended live lectures.