Phase 1 Attendance Procedures
Introduction
- Timeliness: Students are expected to arrive at least 5 minutes early to all learning sessions to be ready to sign in and begin on time.
- Signing in: Class attendance is taken electronically through the “Benware” software using a unique password posted at the start of each session. Students are considered on-time and present if they sign in to Benware within the first 5 minutes of class. In courses where attendance is taken on paper, the 5-minute, on-time window still applies.
Instructions for Absence Excusal and Reporting Form
- The Peoria Absence Excusal and Reporting Form should be used to report any absence, failure to sign in, late arrival, or upcoming absence request from any mandatory course component including sessions, exams, quizzes, graded assignments and Standardized Patient encounters/simulations.
- Anticipated absence: Students must submit the absence form prior to the session, exam, quiz, graded assignments, or SP encounter/simulation. Failure to submit the form in advance will result in an unexcused absence even if the reason meets the criteria for excused absence.
- Emergencies: No expectation of prior notification will apply in the case of an emergency. In such cases, absences must be reported by noon the following business day.
- Late arrival: When a student does not sign in within the first 5 minutes of a session, it is considered an absence. The student is expected to submit the Peoria Absence Excusal and Reporting Form.
- “Failure to sign in”: This may be applied when a student is physically present in the classroom prior to the attendance cut-off, but forgets to sign in. To request to use a “failure to sign in,” students must submit the online Peoria Absence Excusal and Reporting Form or email the course coordinator by noon the following business day. If granted, the student is not assigned an unexcused absence for the affected session. Once the limit of failures to sign in for a particular course has been reached (see information below), additional instances of failing to sign in for a mandatory session in that course will be treated as unexcused absences for grading purposes.
- Technical problems signing in: On occasion, there is difficulty logging into Benware for students who arrive and are prepared to start class before the attendance cut-off. To ensure your attendance is properly recorded, a student should:
- Attempt to sign-in on an alternative device.
- If still unable to sign-in, take a screenshot CLEARLY showing the session and time you are attempting to log-in.
- Email the screenshot to the course coordinator:
- Blocks 1,4,7: email Joellyn Doty, jdoty@uic.edu
- Blocks 2,5,6,8: email Karen Wyman, kwyman@uic.edu
- Blocks 3,6: email Rachel Probst, rprobst@uic.edu
- DoCS, email Candis Barber, candisb@uic.edu
- Synthesis, email Erica Litzsey, elitzsey@uic.edu
- Response: Absence requests will be reviewed by your Academic Advisor who will deem the absence excused or unexcused. (Academic Advisors may confer with the Interim Assistant Dean of Preclinical Curriculum, Pre-clerkship to make a determination). The Academic Advisor will email the student with the decision and request further documentation, if deemed necessary. Any required documentation must be submitted within 7 calendar days of the absence date.
- Confirmation: Submitting a request for an “excused absence” does not guarantee acceptance or approval. If no reply to a request is received, the student is responsible for following up and confirming whether the absence is excused or unexcused.
- Implications of absence: Students are responsible for all the material presented at a missed session regardless of whether the absence was excused or unexcused. For classroom-based missed sessions, students should review the learning materials and associated session recording when available. To determine the appropriate makeup, the student should contact the anatomy faculty for anatomy labs, the preceptor for DoCS small groups, and the course coordinator for SP encounters.
- Students should refer to the syllabus for each course to confirm the grading implications of absence, late-arrival, excused or unexcused, as the implications may vary.
- Any questions about Peoria attendance and reporting procedures should be directed to the course coordinator.
Elements of the College-wide Phase 1 Attendance and Late Arrival Policy
Column 1
Additional Information
This section describes attendance related procedures used at the Peoria campus.
Introduction
- Maximum number of unexcused absences before an “unmet requirement” is recorded
- Number of allowed “failure to sign in” instances before an additional “failure to sign in” is considered an absence
Number of Excused Absences/Failures to Sign-in per Course
| Course | M1/M2 | Number of Unexcused Absences | Number of Failures to Sign-In |
|---|---|---|---|
| Block Course (1-7) | M1 & M2 | 2 per block course | 1 per block course |
| Medical Colloquia (Fall Term) | M1 & M2 | N/A (must attend 6 per term) request excusal if signed up | N/A (completion of assignment) |
| Medical Colloquia (Spring Term) | M1 | N/A (must attend 6 per term) request excusal if signed up | N/A (completion of assignment) |
| Synthesis Weeks (Fall Term) | M1 & M2 | N/A (must meet the course MPL) | 1 per week |
| Synthesis Weeks (Spring Term) | M1 | N/A (must meet the course MPL) | 1 per week |
| Synthesis Week (Summer Term) | M1 | N/A (must meet the course MPL) | 1 per week |
| Block 8: Synthesis | M2 | N/A (must meet the course MPL) | 1 per Block 8 Part 1 1 per Block 8 Part 2 |
| DoCS (Fall Term) | M1 & M2 | 2 per term | 2 per term |
| DoCS (Spring Term) | M1 & M2 | M1: 2 per term M2: 1 per term | M1: 2 per term M2: 1 per term |
| DoCS (Summer Term) | M1 | 1 per term | 1 per term |
Documentation
Documentation IS required for approval for sessions with mandatory attendance and must be submitted within seven calendar days of the absence (the day of the absence is considered Day 1) including:
- Own or another’s wedding
- A healthcare provider appointment for self, significant other, or family member
- An illness of three days or more for student
- Illness of significant other or family member
- A presentation and attendance at a conference (up to 3 consecutive curricular days), see below.
- Civic obligations that cannot be rescheduled or deferred (court date, citizenship assessment)
- Student representation on College of Medicine Committee
- Circumstances of an extreme, unanticipated, and compelling nature
Documentation IS required for approval and must be submitted within seven calendar days (the day of the absence is considered Day 1) following an absence from any session with graded assessment, SP/Simulation, and/or Anatomy sessions including:
- Formative and summative examinations (includes weekly quiz*, DoCS quiz*, NBME exams, block final, DoCS OSCE)
- RATs in a TBL session
- Standardized patient or manikin simulation
- Anatomy Lab/Anatomy Lab Practical/Service of Gratitude
* Approval to be excused from a “take-home” quiz will be handled on a case-by-case basis due to the extended length of time the quiz is available.
Examples of proper documentation for excused absences:
- Healthcare provider’s note listing date of appointment
- Police report
- Wedding invitation with date and location
- Traffic ticket
- Public transportation delay receipt
- Email notice for College of Medicine committee meeting
Documentation IS NOT required for absence approval from any session with mandatory attendance due to:
- Observation of a religious holiday (see UIC Senate Policy on Religious Holidays)
- Attendance at a funeral
- An illness of one or two days for a student. However, documentation is always required for absence due to illness from a graded assessment regardless of duration.
Medical or Research Conference
“Participation” is considered to be any of the following:
- Presenting at the conference. Documentation of accepted abstract must be provided.
- Organization of a session. Documentation of the leadership role in the session must be provided.
- Attendance as a designated UI COM representative or designee*
- National or regional organizational leadership. Documentation of leadership position in the national/regional organization must be provided.**
* Email/communication from UI COM faculty or sponsoring department leadership indicating that you are a UI COM rep or designee required for excusal
** National or regional organizational leadership approval may be limited to cases in which the organization requires a minimum number of students to attend a given conference. This information should be provided with the absence request.
Please note:
- Students are not guaranteed to be approved to attend conferences each year.
- If none of the criteria above is met, the absence request will not be approved and the recommendation will be to attend a conference at another time that doesn’t conflict with mandatory curriculum.
- Multiple pre-planned absences for a combination of reasons (including conference participation) may not be approved more than once per course.
- Alternative attendance at a conference, remote conference attendance options, academic concerns, and the complexity for making up mandatory curricular events may be considered when determining if a conference absence request is approved.
Multiple Absences
- Students with repeated absences may be asked to provide additional documentation. If absences are considered a matter of professionalism, the student may receive a “professionalism concerns” form, which may lead to review through the student promotions committee process. Please see the Statement on Professional Behavior contained in the Academic Policies and Professional Standards document posted on the Educational Policies web page.
- In the event a student has more than 3 excused absences or 2 unexcused absences in a single course, they may be required to meet with Assistant Dean Curriculum, Preclinical or with the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs to discuss their engagement in the medical school curriculum.
Absence Implications for Block Courses 1-7
See Blocks 1-7 course syllabi and Table for Number of Excused Absences/Failures to Sign-in per Course above.
Attendance in each course (DoCS, Synthesis, Blocks) is tracked separately. For example, if you have an unexcused absence in a Block session and a DoCS session on the same day, it will be recorded as one unexcused absence in the Block course and one unexcused absence in the DoCS course.
Note: One Professional Engagement point will be lost for each unexcused day of absence within a Block course. There is no option to split up the point if only missing one out of the multiple mandatory sessions in a day.
Absence Implications for Team-Based Learning (TBL) Sessions
- Absence or late arrival for any TBL session must be submitted via the Peoria Absence Excusal and Reporting Form with documentation as necessary to determine if the absence is excused or unexcused. The student will be responsible for all the material covered regardless if the absence or late arrival is excused or unexcused.
- If the TBL absence is excused, the student should make arrangements with the testing coordinator Joellyn Doty (jdoty@uic.edu), to take a make-up for the Individual Readiness Assurance Test (IRAT) within 7 calendar days. Upon completion of the IRAT makeup, the student’s grade for the TBL will be their IRAT score and their team’s TRAT score.
- If a TBL absence is considered unexcused, the student may still contact the testing coordinator to request a make-up IRAT “for practice” and will receive a score of 0 (zero) for both the IRAT and TRAT for that TBL session. Students who are absent from a TBL are expected to review the application exercises and the session recording when available.
- Late Arrival for TBL Sessions: If a student arrives late to the IRAT, they may sign in and use the remaining time. If the tardiness is later deemed unexcused, the IRAT score they earned is recorded. If the tardiness is later deemed excused, the college-wide average IRAT score is recorded. Regarding the TRAT, if a student arrives prior to the start of the TRAT, they may participate in it and earn their team’s TRAT score. If a student arrives after the start of the TRAT, they may participate with their team, but they receive a zero.
Absence Implications for Doctoring and Clinical Skills (DoCS)
- Use the Peoria Absence Excusal and Reporting Form to request excused absences or report any unexcused absences or failures to sign in.
- See DoCS course syllabi and Table for Number of Unexcused Absences/Failures to Sign-in per Course above.
- See information below about late arrival to OSCE or other high stakes DoCS exam.
Absence Implications for Synthesis Weeks and Block 8
- Use the Peoria Absence Excusal and Reporting Form to request excused absences or report any unexcused absences or failures to sign in.
- Synthesis course grades are based on attendance, participation, and completion of assignments with each course component assigned a specific percentage of the grade. Each missed session will require a make-up assignment. Students who do not meet the MPL for the course will be required to complete any missed course material via written make-up, in addition to submitting a narrative reflection, in order to meet the course requirements.
Absence Implications for Medical Colloquia Sessions
- Please see the Medical Colloquia course syllabus. Students are required to attend and submit a feedback assignment for 6 Medical Colloquia dates out of the 8 dates offered per term. Since there are more session offerings than is required to complete the course, it is not common to provide excused absences for any single Medical Colloquia offering.
- It is highly recommended to plan your attendance for the Medical Colloquia dates offerings carefully so as not to run out of available sessions before you have completed your 6 required to pass the course.
Absence Implications for a Block Exam
- Listed in the Attendance Policy.
- If an absence is anticipated, permission must be requested no later than noon, the business day before the exam. When permission cannot be requested prior to the exam (emergency or extenuating circumstances), the request must be submitted as soon as possible. If documentation is required, it must be submitted within 7 calendar days of the exam. If this is not done the absence will be considered unexcused. An unexcused absence from a Block exam results in a score of zero.
Absence Implications for an OSCE
Listed in the Attendance Policy.
Absence Implications for Transition to Clerkships Sessions
Although the Transition to Clerkships (TTC) course is included in the Phase 1 curriculum, it is considered the orientation for Phase 2 and the foundation for the longitudinal Clinical Connections and Competencies course that spans Phases 2 and 3. All rising M3 students are scheduled for TTC in the spring semester prior to the start of Phase 2. Students should not schedule any outside activities during the two weeks of Transition to Clerkship and should be available from 7am-6pm until the final schedule is posted. ALL segments of TTC must be completed for satisfactory completion of this course. This includes ALL scheduled activities such as workshops, TBLs, small group sessions, and large group sessions. As stated in the TTC syllabus:
- Punctuality: Students are expected to be in class and prepared to engage in the session at the scheduled start time. Students should refer to their campus’s procedure for documenting attendance in TTC. Students are expected to attend the session even if they arrive past the posted start time.
- Reporting Absences and Late Arrivals (>5 min after start time): Remember that planning ahead for any time off is very important, especially as you enter your clinical training. Students should email the Course Directors and Course Coordinator for any absence requests. Unexcused absences, arriving late, and missing assignments are considered professionalism concerns, and the student maybe be required to meet with the campus-designated curricular administration team.
- Late Arrival to Simulation and Standardized Patient Based Activities or Exams: Simulations require precise timing to ensure that each student has the required time to successfully learn and practice the material presented. Any student who arrives at a Simulation Session (such as, but not limited to, those with Standardized Patients) after the encounter time for their group has started will be turned away. This will be counted as an unexcused absence. The student will not receive credit for the session.
- Making Up Missed Course Time: Any missed time, whether excused or unexcused, must be made-up before a passing course grade will be submitted.
Some Transition to Clerkships sessions are required (to meet clinical site compliance requirements) prior to starting your first clinical rotation (i.e., Occupational Exposures, Fit Testing, BLS Certification, etc.); Students cannot begin clerkships without satisfactory completion of these sessions and may have to make changes in their clerkship schedule if they cannot meet requirements. Students with an excused absence for sessions that are required prior to starting clerkships should contact the course coordinator regarding limited make-up options. Students with an unexcused absence for BLS Certification are still required to complete the required certification course before starting clerkships but at their own expense.