Two students and a professor are debating removing attendance marks from grading criteria. Ava (Student) I really think students should have more flexibility. Life happens some of us juggle part-time jobs or family duties and tying grades to physical presence just adds stress. There are better ways to encourage attendance than making it worth marks. The focus should be on learning, not ticking boxes. Emily (Student) I get that, but I worry that if we remove attendance marks altogether, participation will nosedive. In some classes, even now, people skip without consequence unless marks are at stake. We’ve seen from past attendance records that incentives even small ones make a difference. Prof. Collins (Professor) You both make valid points. I’m primarily concerned with student engagement, not just physical attendance. The issue is, without some mechanism, we risk students falling behind or disengaging completely. But maybe marks aren’t the only way to achieve that perhaps we should explore alternative incentives. Ava (Student) Exactly. We could try approaches that reward contribution rather than presence like offering bonus credit for discussion board posts or peer feedback. These kinds of tasks can still foster engagement and give students more autonomy over how they participate. Emily (Student) That sounds good in theory, but we should also consider what the student survey results said last semester. A fair number of students admitted they wouldn't attend unless attendance impacted their grades. It's a bit disheartening, but we have to face that reality. Prof. Collins (Professor) True. However, those same surveys also indicated that students appreciated flexibility and valued courses where learning felt self driven. What if we select a few pilot courses and trial a marks free attendance policy, combined with alternative engagement methods? That would let us test the waters without overhauling the system entirely. Ava (Student) That's a great compromise. And during the pilot, we could track participation patterns using class data who still shows up, who contributes online, and whether their academic performance is affected. That kind of data could help us refine the policy later. Emily (Student) I'm on board with that as long as the pilot includes a mix of lecture heavy and discussion-based courses. That way, we can see how removing attendance marks impacts different types of teaching. It's not one size fits all. Prof. Collins (Professor) Agreed. Let's move forward with piloting a marks free attendance approach in selected courses for one term. We'll monitor participation, review student feedback, and evaluate the results at the end of term to decide whether to expand the model.