Instructor Support for Educational Systems

How do I use the Attendance tool?

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In this article, you can read keep up the attendance of the students using the Attendance tool in Brightspace.

The content of this article consists of:

The Attendance-tool

Attendance can be used to keep an attendance list of who was present at a certain meeting. This allows you to see the percentage of students who were present at a lecture and which students do not attend enough meetings.

You cannot (yet) use Attendance to calculate a grade. One alternative is to keep attendance using Grades. To learn more about this possibility, read How do I create a Grade Item?

As of yet, students do not have access to viewing the Attendance tool.

  1. Klik op Course Tools in de navbar van je cursus.
  2. Klik op Course Admin.
  3. Klik op Attendance onder het kopje Learner Management.

Create an Attendance Scheme

Attendance can be tracked by using a Register. You will need to create an Attendance Scheme before you can start creating a register. The scheme allows you to create the options you want to have whilst tracking the attendance of students. It allows you, for instance, to not only fill in whether they were present or absent but also create an option that they left the lecture early with a good reason.

  1. Click on Attendance Scheme. You can see that the System Scheme is set as default attendance scheme. NB: you can set another scheme as default scheme by clicking on Set behind a scheme.
  2. Click on New Scheme.

An information icon will appear behind the name of a scheme when it is used for one or more registers. Clicking this icon will show the registers for which it is used.

  1. Fill in a name for the attendance scheme, for example Aanwezigheid (Attendance). 
  2. Choose an abbreviation for every status you want to use. This abbreviation is used for filling in the attendance register.
  3. Fill in the actual meaning of the status below Status Full Name (for example: present, absent, or absent with a good reason).
  4. Below Assigned % you can fill in the percentage this status gives the student.
  5. Add (an) additional status(es). Enter the amount of statuses and click on Add Statuses.
  6. Click Save to save the attendance scheme and click Close to return to the overview.

Create an Attendance Register

An Attendance Register allows you to track the attendance of students. This register can be used to fill in whether a student is present of absent. Tracking the attendance for multiple sets of lectures can be done by creating multiple registers for the same course.  

  • Navigate to Attendance Registers. (Course Tools > Course Admin > Attendance)
  • Click on New Register. 
  1. Enter a name and description.
  2. Select the Attendance Scheme you want to use for this register in the dropdown menu.
  3. Below Cause for Concern you can enter a percentage that represents the minimal attendance for students for this register.
  4. Below Visibility you can choose whether students are able to view their own attendance.
  5. Below Users you can choose whether this attendance register is to track the attendance for all students (Include all users in the course) or only the students in a specific group (Include all users in the following groups/sections). Click Add Groups/Section and select the specific group you want to track if you have chosen the latter option. This allows you to track the attendance of multiple groups within one specific course.
  1. The Sessions menu allows you manage the sessions for which you want to track the attendance. Enter the name, description, and order for every session.
  2. Add additional sessions if needed. Fill in the amount and click Add Sessions.
  3. Click Save to save your register.

Changing any settings of an existing register (for example changing which scheme is used) will result in a loss of all previously filled in data. Please make sure that all your settings are correct before you start using a register in your course.

Tracking Attendance

You can track the attendance of participants of your course by filling in the correct symbols you have used when creating your Attendance Scheme

  • Navigate to Course Admin in the navbar of your course.
  • Click on Attendance under Learner Management. You are directed towards the overview of the registers.
  • Click the Register in which you want fill in the attendance.
  • Below Sessions you will see the sessions for which you can fill in the attendance. You will see the status for every student for each of the sessions after you have filled this in.
  • The Totals will show you how often a student received a certain status (present, absent, or absent with a good reason).
  • Below Attendance you will see the percentage every student has achieved. Their percentage will be red and accompanied by a warning icon when their attendance is below the minimal percentage indicated in the register.
  1. Click the calendar icon next to the name of a session to fill in the attendance per student for that specific session.
  1. Select the correct symbol for each individual student in the dropdown menu. You can choose between the options you have created in the Attendance Scheme.
  2. You can fill in the attendance for multiple students at once. Check the boxes before the names of multiple students and select Set Status.
  3. Click the question mark symbol next to Attendance Status to see what every symbol means.
  4. Click Save to save the changes and click Close to return to the overview.

Export the Attendance list

Navigate to one of your Attendance lists by clicking on its name. 

Click on Export All Data. A new window will open where you can download your export file. 

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