Picture this: It’s 9 a.m. on a Monday morning and a professor is lecturing to a half-empty room. Presumably, some students are sick and others didn’t feel like making the trek across campus. Probably, a few students are still asleep. Although a Herald poll from 12 years ago estimated that 25% of students skip class at least once a week, I would wager that this number has grown significantly. One possible culprit? The lingering effects of COVID-19 online learning.
But in many of these classes, despite minimal attendance, students will not miss any content covered that day. In 40 of Brown’s classrooms, including those in which most of Brown’s largest classes take place, Lecture Capture is available to automatically record lectures and post them to the course’s online Canvas page. Students can then watch the recording in their free time — negating the need to ever attend class at all.
Yes, recording lectures allows students who have genuine excuses for missing class to stay up to date. But ultimately, it disincentivizes others from attending class in person, causing lower overall class attendance and a less lively classroom environment. In addition, beyond the obvious benefits of in-person learning, actually attending class is important because the true benefits of a college education — building connections with peers and professors, learning important life skills and preparing for one’s career — cannot be achieved if students default to watching their lectures from the comfort of their beds. To encourage students to fully reap the benefits of their education, professors should not immediately make all lectures available on Canvas.
The way I see it, there are two main reasons why people skip class: grade inflation and recorded lectures. In the 2023–24 academic year, 63% of grades given to undergraduates were A’s. Such grade inflation means that it has become easy to succeed academically while putting in less work, so students might feel less inclined to ensure they never miss a lecture. While grade inflation can’t be solved overnight, professors can easily take a step toward rectifying the attendance problem by not immediately posting lectures to Canvas.
At Brown, we have the unique privilege of learning directly from some of the most accomplished professors in their respective fields. Among our faculty are Andries van Dam, a professor who helped develop the first hypertext system; J. Michael Kosterlitz, winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics; and Emily Oster, an economist who was on TIME’s 2022 list of the 100 most influential people. The list goes on and on. Forming relationships with professors is one of the most important and rewarding parts of college — and when the professors are some of the leading minds in their fields, it’s a waste of an opportunity to make those connections. It is significantly harder to build these bonds if we don’t attend class — and again, students are far less likely to show face in lecture when they have the reliable crutch of Lecture Capture.
Aside from capitalizing on the attention of Brown’s faculty, it’s also important that we don’t overlook the value of spending class time with our peers. Skipping class and watching a recording instead turns education into a solo endeavor. When students go to class with their co-concentrators, they learn soft skills like networking — these days, over 50% of workers say they got a job through a personal connection. An important part of being in class is not just learning from the professor, but also learning from classmates. For example, students sitting together may be able to explain the content in ways that help each other understand it better or expose each other to new perspectives.
All of this is not to say that there aren’t valid reasons for students to use Lecture Capture. A student with a physical disability may find it difficult to navigate campus, especially if there is inclement weather. Students dealing with personal circumstances or observing religious holidays not recognized under Brown’s official calendar should not have to choose between school and personal obligations. To account for these cases, an easy solution for professors would be to make recordings available for students with valid reasons for their absence.
A college education has never been just about memorizing material or acing a test — it’s about learning and practicing the social habits that will serve us later in life. One of the most important of these skills is showing up. Brown’s core values of intellectual curiosity and “the pursuit of knowledge and understanding” cannot be upheld if students don’t even have to get out of bed to attend class.
Max Mooney ’29 can be reached at max_mooney@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
