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Home > Teaching > Managing Your Course > Attendance & Accommodations
It is up to the instructor to formulate their policy on attendance, but all attendance expectations and policies must be clearly outlined in the syllabus. Please refer to our Syllabus Guidelines, which include suggested language.
Faculty are encouraged to use the information below in order to provide reasonable accommodations for students who are unable to attend class due to illness, quarantine, travel restrictions, visa complications, and religious reasons.
If you are concerned about a student with poor attendance, you can raise a flag via NYU Connect, or see Gallatin's guidance on Academic Difficulties and Wellness Resources on the Advising Portal.
Academic and/or Wellness Concerns: If you are concerned about a student's academic performance, or if a student requires accommodations due to a disability, please see our guidance on Academic Difficulties. If you suspect a student is experiencing mental health issues, see our Wellness Resources.
Medical Reasons: If you have students who are having attendance problems for medical reasons, please see NYU's Guidance on Student Absences Due to Illness, issued in August of 2023 by the Office of the Provost. If a student’s absences are excessive, you should consult with the Assistant Director of Student Affairs to discuss withdrawals, medical leaves and other options.
Religious Holidays: See the University Calendar Policy on Religious Holidays.
Weather Emergencies: See our guidance on Canceling Class or Office Hours.
Be proactive: In general, faculty are encouraged to make all course materials and activities available in Brightspace, so everything is available to everyone at all times.
In addition, reasonable accommodations may (but are not required to) include:
Excused absences and assignment extensions
Class recordings via Zoom
Temporary remote attendance via Zoom
Permission to step out of class for a few minutes to pray or break a fast
The option to take exams on an alternate date or with extended time. The Moses Center can offer proctoring.
Record Class via Zoom
If you will be recording class lectures and/or discussion, it is critical that you notify your students ahead of time, in case there are special circumstances that would make a student unwilling to be recorded. Students who do not want to be seen on camera should be given the option to turn off their video and/or rename themselves, if attending via Zoom, or to move outside of the frame of the recording, if attending in person. This is also an opportunity to set expectations for attendance, punctuality, participation, and video settings. Once the session begins, Zoom will also automatically notify participants that the session is being recorded. Participants will have the option to leave the meeting or continue.
Alternatives to Recording
If you are not comfortable with recording class, here are some alternative suggestions:
Offer to meet with students to discuss the classes they have missed, either individually or as a group.
Assign student note takers for each class, who will share their notes via Brightspace’s discussion board or by other means.
Pairing/Buddy-System Learning: Pairing up students improves community, accountability, and provides context for missed classes.
Remote Attendance (Hyflex)
Allow students who are unable to attend in person, but otherwise available (e.g. students who are quarantining), to attend remotely via Zoom (temporarily, and in limited cases).
Audio-Only Access via Zoom or Audio-Only Recording
Use Zoom to allow students to listen in on the classroom lecture and/or discussion, or to record only the audio from your classroom lecture and/or discussion.
Provide a Pre-Recorded Lecture or Other Asynchronous Activity
Provide students with a pre-recorded lecture, which can be viewed asynchronously, leaving more time for in-class discussion. Students who are unable to attend class can still add to the discussion by using the discussion tool in Brightspace, or by using Annoto, which allows students to add their comments directly to time-specific moments in your shared videos.
You may even consider substituting a scheduled class session with pre-recorded lectures or other asynchronous activities, such as virtual tours or collaborative writing, which is a good option for times when multiple students will be unable to attend class, as in the case of a religious holiday.
If you need assistance with classroom A/V, including Zoom, you must contact the Gallatin Help Desk at gallatin.helpdesk@nyu.edu with as much advance notice as possible.
If you would like to discuss best pedagogical practices for any of the scenarios above, please contact Jenny Kijowski at jenny.kijowski@nyu.edu.
Moses Center, including test proctoring: csaexams@nyu.edu
Religious Accommodations: religiousaccommodations@nyu.edu
NYU Statement of Policy on Intellectual Property (including ownership of lecture recordings)
NYU Statement on Zoom Recordings (including access to recordings)
NYU Stream: Terms of Use (including control of access to lecture videos)