Final Year Project

Project Title

Senior Research Seminar - Final Paper: What Effect does the Biometric System at Habib University have on Student Attendance?

Description

My research aimed to investigate the fundamental philosophical distinction between students’ physical attendance in class and the “experience of attending”. My paper incorporated primary and secondary data insights to highlight how attendance recording systems such as biometric scanners often fail to capture what it means for students to be enthusiastic about their learning experiences at educational institutes. Interviews and surveys conducted with students and administrative offices at Habib showed that there is a need to create a student-facing attendance policy which focuses more on inculcating intrinsic motivation among students to attend classes. Results showed that setting stricter attendance policies does not motivate students to attend classes, but simply forces them to be physically present due to the fear of consequences. Whereas research in school psychology illustrates that students’ ability to perform well academically depends on a combination of individual and social factors that extend beyond simply memorizing course information.