Attendance

Introduction to the Attendance Activity

The Attendance activity is designed for teachers to be able to take attendance during lectures and/or classes or seminars, and for students to be able to view their own attendance record.

Out of the box, a teacher has the option to mark a student’s attendance as either "Present", "Absent", "Late", or "Excused". These categories are configurable, and more can be added. The teacher adds Attendance as an activity within a Moodle course, and then sets up the sessions for which attendance is to be monitored and recorded.

The Attendance activity generates reports for the entire class and for individual students. Students may also see their own attendance record if the activity itself is not hidden.

The optional Attendance block allows teachers quick access to the Attendance functionality, and allows students quick access to a summary report for their own attendance.

Screen Recording

You can view a screen recording that shows the set-up process for the Attendance Activity by clicking the below link:

Adding an Attendance activity

An Attendance activity can be added to a course in the same way as any other activity:

1. Turn editing on
   
   

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   Fig 1. Turn Edit Mode on

2. Click 'Add an activity or resource' in whichever course section you wish to host your Attendance activity.
   

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   Fig. 2a Adding an Activity / Resource

3. Select Attendance
   
   

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   Fig. 2b Adding the Attendance activity

Note that you may now add as many Attendance instances as you like, and that each instance may have multiple sections.

Be sure to give the instance a name that indicates what it will be used for; for example, "Lecture Attendance".

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Fig. 2c Naming your Attendance activity instance

If you will be using groups in your course, set the Group mode accordingly, because even if groups exist in the course, you will not be able to use them within the Attendance activity if you select No groups.

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Fig. 2d Groups settings dropdown

Once you have added an attendance instance, you are ready to start taking attendance during classes.

Adding sessions

To add class sections, click the Add session tab (second from left) at the top of the Attendance page.

You have two options for adding sessions: adding a single session or adding multiple sessions. The single session is self-explanatory as well as time-consuming to use when you have many class sessions, so we will go straight to the more useful option.

Click the button next to Multiple sessions to expand the list of options.

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Fig. 3a Multiple sessions options menu in Attendance activity settings

Select the date and time for the first session you wish to add, followed by the duration of the session. Then, enter the date for the last session you wish to add. Since most classes do not meet seven days a week, select the checkboxes for days the class meets. If your class meets every week, as is typical, then you want a frequency of 1 week, which is the default. If your class meets every other week, then select a frequency of 2 weeks, and so on. If you wish, you may type a description for the sessions you are creating. If you leave the description field blank, it will default to "Regular class session".

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Fig 3b - Example scheduling of multiple sessions

Finally, click the Add multiple sessions button to create your sessions. You will see a message confirming this.

If you want to make use of the QR code and password features as part of allowing students to register their own attendance, you will need to tick the checkbox in the Student recording section. This will reveal the options available for student recording of attendance.

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Fig. 3c Enabling student recording of attendance.

Taking attendance

You can take attendance for a session by clicking on the triangle button on the session’s right-hand side, as shown below.

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Fig. 4a To register attendance of a session

Those sessions for which attendance has already been taken, will not have the triangle button. However, the session description is also a link that will take you to a screen should you need to retrospectively modify the attendance record for a particular session.

Note that when taking attendance, the column headings for attendance status are links (see below).

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Fig. 4b Attendance status column headers are clickable links

If you click one of these column headings, all students will have their status changed to the status you selected. Thus, if everyone is present, you can merely click the P column header to change everyone's status to "Present". If only one person is absent, you could first click P to set everyone's status to "Present", and then set the individual absent student's status to "Absent". This can be a real timesaver when dealing with large classes.

Make sure to click the OK button at the bottom of the page to record the attendance information.

Self-recording attendance

Students can also record their own attendance if you configure it in the settings (shown above, Fig, 3c). Each session is assigned a unique password, and you can display this password to students in the teaching space (e.g. lecture theatre, classroom) to allow them to mark themselves as present. Display the the QR code and password by clicking the QR code button on the session’s right-hand side, as show below:

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Fig. 4c QR code button to reveal attendance password and QR code for scanning by students

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Fig. 4d Example QR code and password