Auditing classes is an academic option that BYU-Idaho rarely sees its students use.
Auditing is the option to sign up for a seat in a class without being responsible for attendance, assignments or tests and without receiving credit.
While common on many other university campuses, BYU-I has less than 300 classes being audited.
What’s more is that a large portion of those audits are being done by non-traditional students interested in taking classes but not wanting credit, said Kevin Miyasaki, registrar.
Many students auditing classes simply want to get the information and participate without being responsible for homework, Miyasaki said.
BYU-I’s official policy on auditing says that, although allowed in general, the instructor or the department may set restrictions on students auditing classes.
One department less in favor of auditing is the Music Department. The department chose to not allow any auditing in both private lessons and in ensemble classes. Classes with few seats available have also been blocked for auditing.
James R. Brague, chairman of the Music Department, said this decision is based on experience.
In the Music Department, they have found that students tend to let audit classes slide around the middle of the semester, when term papers and projects are due, Brague said.
When students try to pick back up after the block, they often find themselves behind and choose to stop attending class.
“You seldom see an audit make it all the way through the semester,” Brague said.
K. Shane Goodwin, professor in the Mathematics Department, has a different view on auditing.
While he does acknowledge that students can end up not coming to class, “…it does serve a purpose,” he said. He has had a few good experiences with the auditing program.
One experience involved a student tutor who wanted to make sure she understood his method of teaching. She came all year, and the students she was tutoring benefited from her dedication, Goodwin said.
Brague said he rarely sees students trying to take advantage of the auditing opportunity, and he believes that this is because students are being more careful in planning out their classes.
“Students seem to be more serious now than they used to be,” he said.
Even though auditing is common elsewhere, it is unlikely that it will ever become a large issue at BYU-I.
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