The professor, meanwhile, saw a different problem: “They weren’t coming to class. … They weren’t watching the videos, and they weren’t able to answer the questi

The professor, meanwhile, saw a different problem: “They weren’t coming to class. … They weren’t watching the videos, and they weren’t able to answer the questions.” If that's the case, it's not difficult at all to restructure the course to make attendance mandatory, possibly with the use of softball questions answered with clickers during lecture (or just an attendance sheet). Videos can be shown during lectures and questions can be forced as part of mandatory homework. I know that motivating students is perhaps harder these days than in previous decades but I have no sympathy for professors who refuse to get creative with their class/grading structure.