Necessary to attend all lectures? (1 Viewer)

[nml10]

So orientation and the first semester of university is soon to commence.

I was wondering if attending ALL lectures is necessary, because a number of current uni students have told me attending ALL lectures isn't necessary. (Since there is a recording of it on the MyUni page)

I haven't thought about skipping any lectures but I was wondering what the impact of skipping a lecture would be like compared to the other students who attend ALL the lectures? Or does everyone skip a lecture once in a while? :L

Thanks in advance to those who reply.

 

[OzKo]

I wouldn't recommend skipping lectures be a habit you start getting into.

There are definitely students out there who seem to be able to cope without attending lectures regularly but this isn't a characteristic I could confidently match with all students. Remember that you're paying for these lectures, and you might as well get your money's worth.

Some lecturers choose to put up lecture notes on eLearning while some refrain from doing so. This is often a determinant used by many students to decide whether or not they will attend lectures. The argument here is somewhat flawed though as lecture notes only cover the basics of the lecture. The real meat of the content is presented by the lecturer. You could then argue that it is fine if the lecturer uploads a recording of a particular lecture. This could work, but eLearning does experience downtime once in awhile and I have seen mutual acquaintances whining about said downtime with this excuse commonly coming from friends who like to skip lectures.

Make of this what you will, but if I had to recommend one or the other, I would encourage you to attend as many lectures as possible UNLESS you have something else on which is ACTUALLY more important than learning part of your course. It's all down to self control and I'm sure you'll find a system which works for you.

 

[kaz1]

You get detention if you skip lectures.

 

[garrry]

LOL @kaz1

 

[izzy88]

I agree with what Ozko said however just to add some things: whether lecture notes are put up by the lecturer is really faculty/subject dependent. In law and history I have never had lecture notes released by the lecturer. Some had PowerPoint slides put up after the class, but depending on the lecturer these may be very detailed or really brief.

Also, not all lecturers are recorded. And from past experience even if it is recorded- if you couldn't be bothered to go to the lecture, will you really make the effort to sit at home and listen to the recording for two hours? I tended to find that if I did occasionally skip a lecture, it was very difficult to be bothered to catch it up - you got overtaken by other things and other parts of the course. Sometimes it's easier To just sit in class for two hours and soak up information.

Skip the occasional lecture, everyone has, but don't make a habit of it.

 

[nml10]

detention.. xDDDD

In that case, how about the tutorials? Is it necessary to attend those?

 

[OzKo]

detention.. xDDDD

In that case, how about the tutorials? Is it necessary to attend those?

Some units have tutorial attendance as a marked component. For example, it may take up 10% of the marking scheme with each tutorial attended garnering ~0.5% of your overall mark.

Skipping tutorials is much worse than skipping lectures because it is your opportunity to learn, reinforce and discuss the course content in a classroom setting. You could argue that attendance at lectures is flexible but tutorial attendance less so.

 

[izzy88]

detention.. xDDDD

In that case, how about the tutorials? Is it necessary to attend those?

As OzKo said there are sometimes class participation marks for tutorials - anywhere from 10-20%. Rolls are generally taken in tutorials.

In addition to class participation, there is also generally a requirement to attend 75 or 80% of tutorials. If you don't (and you don't have medical certificates etc), the lecturer can absent fail you. This will be listed in the unit outline for each subject.

End result: Attend tutorials!