FLEXCampus® and Online Attendance Policy

Even though FLEXCampus® students do not "attend" in the same way that students attend in a face-to-face classroom, FLEXCampus® students must comply with the DCC attendance policy. The 2015-2016 DCC Catalog explains:

FLEXCampus® attendance is determined by a) physically attending the class on campus, b) attending class live via web conference with a live webcam stream, or c) watching the class recording and completing the associated participation activity by 6 p.m. the evening prior to the next class session. Students missing this deadline will be counted absent and receive a "0" for participation credit. Students in a FLEXCampus® or online course cannot miss more than one class session without failure due to nonattendance.

Attendance requirements in some FLEXCampus® classes may vary depending on the preferences of the professor. Please refer to your class site for more information.

In online-only classes (that is, classes without a weekly live web conference component), instructors will check for a substantive posting in the main discussion forum (the introductory forum does not count unless it is the only discussion forum that week) at the end of each week. If a student does not show a substantive posting during the assigned week, the student will be reported absent in the DCC academic database.

Although instructors typically notify students of an absence, students should monitor their official attendance record in the Student Portal. If there has been a mistake, the student should contact the instructor within 48 hours to rectify it.

Warning after the first absence: Students should be aware that the DCC attendance policy states that a student cannot miss more than one week of a six-week class. If a student has one absence and then fails to satisfy attendance requirements in any other week of the course, the student will face serious consequences which may include:

  1. being administratively withdrawn from the course or
  2. failing the course based on attendance.

Either consequence will cost the student financially and possibly affect his/her GPA. To avoid this, students need to strive to satisfy attendance requirements each week and communicate with the instructor right away if serious unforeseen factors make attendance impossible.

Consequence after the second absence: The instructor will notify the registrar in the academic office. Depending on the student's circumstances, the academic office will either:

  1. Administratively withdraw the student (AW): This happens when a student is absent the first two weeks of a class. A non-refundable $250 fee is charged to the student's account.
  2. The student will receive an "F" in the class: This happens if the student attends during any part of the class, but is absent during any two weeks of the class. The student will also lose the full tuition for the class as per the DCC catalog.

Final Note of Explanation

This definition of attendance for FLEXCampus® students emphasizes the importance of completing attendance requirements. Under this definition a student could do all the written work except the attendance and participation requirements and still be marked absent and possibly be dismissed from the class for lack of participation.

Rev. 02.11.16