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      Attendance App for Faculty and Students
      • 25 May 2023
      • 4 Minutes to read
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      Attendance App for Faculty and Students

      • Updated on 25 May 2023
      • 4 Minutes to read
      • Contributors
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      Article summary

      The Attendance App and the Attendance Tool are two separate tools. The Attendance App is used in the classroom to take attendance. The Attendance Tool is in Blackboard to help faculty keep track of the attendance taken in class. See the article "Blackboard: The Attendance Tool for Faculty" for more information.

      The Attendance App was developed by Web Services in collaboration with the Academic Technology Team to provide instructors with a method of tracking attendance. 

      Faculty

      Attendance data can be used to compute participation points, in accordance with the course syllabus. Often class engagement and participation can be used as an indicator for student success. 

      This is an online application designed to allow faculty to take attendance by generating a unique code that students can use to mark themselves as present for a class. The records are securely stored online, and instructors will be able review them or export them as a CSV. Students can also log in to view their attendance history in a class.

      To access the attendance app go to UML Attendance and log in with your faculty email credentials.

      Taking Attendance

      In the Codes menu, select the class session that you would like to take attendance for.

      image of courses to select

      When you select a class, you will see a 4-digit access code. Share this code with the students in your classroom so that they can mark themselves as present for your class session. Codes are only valid for 24 hours. Generating a new code creates a new session in your reports.

       image of example code presented to students

      Viewing Reports

      To view attendance reports, select reports from the menu. Then select the course section you want to view.

      image of class table to create a reportYou will see an overview of the attendance for all the students in your class over all class sessions. Green dots indicate present, a red dot indicates an absence. Hovering over a green dot will display the time they entered the code.

      Selecting a student’s name from the class list will allow you to view an individual student’s attendance record. To edit their status for a session simply click on the indicator dot (red or green) for that session. When you change a student’s attendance for a session you will receive a confirmation pop up window.  

      image of an example report


      If you see an orange dot, this means that the student checked in 15 minutes before the start of class time or 10 or more minutes after the end of class time. If you hover over the dot, it will allow you to see the timestamp of when they checked in. This is currently called “abnormal” attendance.

      Abnormal attendance

      You will have the option of marking the student present or absent.

      Update attendance popup

      Meeting Access

      You will see an option, for “Meeting Access”. Actions on this page will only be available to PI’s (Primary Instructors). Those that are not a PI will see this: 

      Meeting access with no primary classes

      You will see a listing of your courses for those courses in which you are a PI.


      Meeting access with multiple classes

      You may want to add a Secondary Instructor or a TA to the course for attendance purposes. Click the pencil button to edit access to the desired class. If a class has more than one meeting time, the user will have to be added to each meeting time. To add a user, click the “Add User” button and search for them by name, ID, or email and then select from the results. To delete a user, click the trash can icon next to their name. Users that have been granted access will function as if they were the instructor for the class. A user can be granted access by more than one PI, and they will see all classes for which they have access. 

      Students

      To access the attendance app go to UML Attendance with any device and log in with your student email credentials.

      When you log in, you will be prompted to enter the four-digit code for your class. Your instructor will provide a new code each class. To mark yourself as present for your class enter the code in the field and click the “Check In” button.  

      image of where to put in the code for students

      This will give you a confirmation page to let you know your attendance has been recorded and which class it has been recorded for. To view your attendance records, select “Records” from the menu on the left or use the “View Records” button in the center after you check in.

      image of attendance confirmation

      Please note: Sharing codes with remote students is considered academic misconduct subject to disciplinary action for both parties. Attendance data can be used to compute participation points, in accordance with the course syllabus. Often class engagement and participation can be used as an indicator for student success.

      Viewing Attendance Records

      When you view your records, you will be shown a list of your classes. Select the calendar button for the class you would like to see your attendance records for.


      Your attendance record for that class will display showing each class session. A green dot to the right of the date indicates you were present, a red dot next to the date indicates you were not present.

      image of a student view to check that their attendance was recorded. 



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